


A Hopeless Cause - Frerard

by xoginasfs



Category: Fall Out Boy, Mindless Self Indulgence, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, The Used
Genre: Eventual Smut, Frerard, Homeless!Gerard, M/M, Sweetheart!frank, Violence, mentioned other ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2018-09-10 23:06:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 55,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8943127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoginasfs/pseuds/xoginasfs
Summary: He took a few steps through the snow, his knees constantly knocking together as they were weak, wobbly, and barely able to hold him up. He began to make his way to the downtown area, that's where a lot of the cheaper stores were. He tried to find a place that sold something warm, satisfying, and cheap. Maybe an IHOP. No, he thought to himself almost immediately. The thought left his mind just as quickly as it entered. It was satisfying and warm, but it wasn't exactly what Gerard would call cheap. Maybe a hole-in-the-way restaurant. They're usually known to be good and cheap.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This story is a finished, it's just a matter of posting it all. Enjoy!

He was cold, he was tired.

The winter was coming and it was clear that there would be no mercy this year. The fact that he was really close to the water probably didn't help at all. The lake that he was always near made some breezes colder than if he had still been near that building he was housing across the street from before. But he prefered this scenery better than that god damn brick wall.

The brown and orange leave were turning into a frosty blue. Much like the tips of Gerard's hair in fact - only difference is that the tips of his hair is white because it had grown out of his last hair dye, showing the natural brown hair suddenly transitioning to white. While the leaves, they were because of the transitioning of the seasons.

Winter was by far Gerard's most hated out of the the four seasons. 

Food was harder to come by as stores were closed more often because of snow and the holidays coming up, one after another. Water was hard to get because if Gerard was lucky, he sometimes would manage to find a water bottle someone wasted or dropped, but in the winter, the water bottles wouldn't mean much to him if they were frozen and had nowhere to thaw out.

He was hungry, he was in pain. 

He wanted, no, needed food. He just hoped whatever he managed to get his hands on was warm if he got anything at all tonight. 

He didn't have enough meat on his bones to make the winter somewhat bearable. He didn't have enough clothes on his back to keep him warm. Everything he managed to scrounge was either thrown away because of homeless sweeps or stolen. And it was never easy getting anything back. Especially without money. That was common sense. 

He was dirty, he was lonely. 

He hasn't spoke for awhile. Not because he didn't want to, it's just that - there wasn't really many people who would uphold a decent conversation, either that, or no one wanted to speak with the likes of him. Everyone looked down on people like him. 

Sometimes out of pity, Sometimes out of spite.

No one really liked the homeless because they always assume the worst of them, but no one really took the time to listen to one of their stories either. And honestly, sometimes Gerard feels that was all he wanted. For someone to take the time to listen to what he had to say.

\--

There was so much more to this young boy that no one looks twice at, and it they did, it was to spare an undeserved glare. There were some people who completely disregarded the fact that he was even there at all in fear of feeling guilty of not wanting to donate. There were others who would just laugh or scoff at him like he didn't have feelings too. 

His hand was held out, waiting and hoping for some sort of spare change, but his palm was empty. There was a jagged and worn cardboard with the words all I want is a sketchbook and pencils in hopes that maybe someone would like to make a homeless aspiring artist's day. 

The boy had the skills, just not the supplies nor the money to get them. 

His hand was getting surprisingly heavy considering there was nothing in it. Maybe it was doubt that was weighing his hand down. The boy buried his chin into his knees as the wind blew a bit harder, blowing his piece of cardboard away from him. He shivered and made no attempt to get it. His joints were too stiff. But it wasn't like he was going to get anything anyways. 

\--

Gerard let his hand fall limp onto the park bench, deciding to call a quits for today. It was clear that he would be getting no income. Not tonight. 

The sound of the bench creaking made Gerard look over. He was surprised that someone would even consider sitting next to someone as filthy as him.

His face was covered in dirt - which made him look a lot older than he was. His body was covered in dirt. Even his items were covered in dirt. Gerard didn't like touching dirty things, but he had no choice but to touch all of the unsanitary things he vowed not to before he was in the street. "The hell are you looking at?" The man scowled. He was a rather large fellow with a receding hair line. The man's beard was big and brown. He was wearing all of the winter gear that Gerard wishes he had. 

Gerard decided it was a rhetorical question and minded his own business. He looked at the lake in front of him that was destined to be blocked by a sheet of ice eventually. 

"Daddy, daddy!" Gerard heard a little girl call. He heard the small pitter-patter of a child's foot steps running along the gravel. Gerard saw the man from the corner of his eye shift in his seat a bit. At this point Gerard assumed she was the man's daughter. "Daddy," she said once she was at the bench. 

"Hey princess," the man said with a slight strain to his voice as he got up. Gerard felt a little less pressure on the bench. It relieved him that it seemed like the man was going. 

"Daddy, he looks really cold," the girl whispered, probably thinking Gerard couldn't hear. "It's almost Christmas, maybe we should give him something," the little girl suggested. 

Gerard tried his best not to look in their direction to let them know that he was listening. He heard her father huffed angrily. "No," he said sternly.

"Come on, daddy, please, have a heart," she begged. "Only five dollars." 

"Lindsey, I said no."

"But look at him," Gerard could feel her eyes on him, "Mommy says that being nice never killed anyone and you're being a grinch," she huffed. 

"This is coming out of your Christmas presents," the father said to the girl. Lindsey, her name was. Gerard thought to himself, trying to imprint the name into his mind. If he couldn't remember her name, he was going to try and remember her face. 

"Okay," she said. "I'd rather lose some gifts than watch someone not experience having one at all." 

Those words made Gerard wonder how old she really was. She sounded like she was nine or ten. But she seemed to be a little bit more intelligent than normal kids of that age. A child would usually cancel out something like donating to a homeless man in a blink if that meant losing Christmas presents

There was some rustling. "Thank you, daddy!" Lindsey cheered. Gerard heard a couple of footsteps, "Excuse me?" She asked softly. Gerard looked up at her. Her speaking to him was still a bit of a surprise although he was expecting it. "I would like you to have this," she handed him what turned out to be fifty dollars instead of the five like he was expecting.

Gerard felt his throat tighten. He felt like he was going to cry. He took the money and held it to his chest and smiled brightly. Gerard properly looked at the girl. She had big brown eyes and dark brown hair. Her skin was kind of pale. He would remember this face. He felt his lip tremble a bit. He was trying to hold in his tears. He wanted to say something but he knew his voice was going to fail him, so instead he grinned, hoping it would show her how grateful he was. 

She just grinned right back at him, rocking back and forth on her heels. "Merry Christmas!" She walked over to her dad and grabbed his hand. "Let's go home."

"He didn't even say thank you," her dad grumbled as they walked down the path. 

"Sometimes you don't have to," Lindsey said. "I could see that he was thankful."

\--

Gerard had to take a couple of minutes to admire the money, it was only fifty dollars and he couldn't really get much, but maybe he could get himself a sketchbook and pencils, maybe squeeze a jacket in there and hopefully some food. Food should probably be his first priority. 

Gerard decided he was going to do everything in the morning. The cheaper stores were already closed and he didn't want to waste any money on something that would go away quickly. If he wanted something cheap, he had to be up early and now the sun was going down, and he decided he was going to call it a night.


	2. Chapter Two

Gerard woke up in the morning, bones stiff as ever. He was shivering a bit. Well, a lot actually. Snow decided to make an appearance today. He had specks of the snow all over him. Looking at it only made him colder. He pushed himself off the park bench and got himself ready for a day a spending - he wasn't buying much, but it was going to be something. 

What he needed first was food. 

He put the converses on his feet that were falling apart onto the light sheet of snow covering the ground. He let out a soft groan as he felt his joints began to shift back into place. He made sure his fifty dollars were still in his back pocket, right where he put it right before he went to sleep. It was still there, thank goodness. 

 

Gerard rubbed his arms in hopes it would create some sort of warmth, but it came to no avail. His hands were too clammy and cold to do any good. He tucked his hands in his armpits. It helped a little bit. He let out a puff of white air, the seasons were changing too fast for his liking.

He took a few steps through the snow, his knees constantly knocking together as they were weak, wobbly, and barely able to hold him up. He began to make his way to the downtown area, that's where a lot of the cheaper stores were. He tried to find a place that sold something warm, satisfying, and cheap. Maybe an IHOP. No, he thought to himself almost immediately. The thought left his mind just as quickly as it entered. It was satisfying and warm, but it wasn't exactly what Gerard would call cheap. Maybe a hole-in-the-way restaurant. They're usually known to be good and cheap.

\--

After a painfully cold walk, he was finally downtown. He needed to give himself a moment to rest on one of the benches at the bus stop. He was feeling himself get a dizzy spell as he did every so often As he was sitting he took a look around at all of the shops, trying to recall which ones were cheap and which ones he should steer clear of. He got a lot of dirty stares when people came to the bus stop to wait. No one dared to sit by him, God forbid they share the same bench. Although Gerard was used to it by now, but he still wanted to sink into a big hole when everyone's eyes were on him, and never for a good reason. It was always pity or disgust. Never anything in between, it was always one of the two and sometimes, maybe both. And if it they hadn't gave Gerard either the look of pity or disgust, they just completely ignored him. No one has ever looked at him like he was a normal human being for a long time.

People always seemed act like he didn't deserve to breathe the same air as them, or they wish he could breathe the same air as them. But he did, he just didn't breathe it in the luxury of a home and his air was a bit more harsh, it wasn't filtered to a certain temperature depending on how cold or hot it was outside. And not everyone with homes could do that, but their air was still wasn't as hard to breathe as the homeless. The homeless, like Gerard, just had to take whatever air they could get and deal with it, no matter how cold or hot. 

Eventually when he felt a bit better he got up and started searching around the town again for cheap places to eat. All his way down the road he couldn't stop shivering. His teeth were chattering with every step. His legs would occasionally buckle from the lack of muscle mass in them. Each time he would straighten up and keep walking. His movements were slow and feeble, he'd constantly have to take breaks because he was either too tired or feeling to faint to keep going.

 

He spotted a Quick Chek. He remembers this store- it was really cheap. And good too from what he remembered. Quick Chek was one of those stores near a gas station. He walked into the store, kind of feeling like he didn't belong on such a clean white-tiled floor. 

People already started staring at him, he didn't really care, or so he told himself. But even if he did care, he knew he shouldn't. He was hungry and that was all that should matter to him at this moment. But he wasn't going to lie, all of these stares did make him want to turn right around and maybe find a new place that wasn't so judgmental. 

It wasn't his fault he was homeless, he could try to get a job. But who would accept someone who looked like this? They say that all the homeless need is some hope. That might be true. But how could he have hope if he didn't have a chance? How could he get off his feet if there was no one there to pick him up? There was no one he could rely on. There was no one who was willing to gain his trust and there was certainly no one who wanted his trust. Maybe, just maybe someone would want to help me, he thought to himself. And there's his hope. 

But even with that thought, it hasn't done much for him yet, or maybe the little girl Lindsey would be his help- no, she was only a little girl. Gerard would probably never see the girl again, but if he did, he would take the time to thank her properly for her kind act. She begged for her father to give him some money. But her father's actions should be recognized too, he gave Gerard a lot more than Lindsey had asked. He didn't expect the father to be that generous. 

\--

Gerard found himself at the area where the sandwiches are made. There were machines where he could customize himself an order. The order was created and was only three forty-seven. But he would have to pay for it at the cash register. He got a receipt with the number of his order on it, now all that was left to do was wait. 

He heard his order get called and he went up to the person behind the counter and thanked them, only getting a grunt in response. 

He looked around for drinks. He saw a coffee machine, he contemplated whether he really needed it or not. He hasn't had coffee in years. Gerard decided against it and settled for a bottled water. He went up to the cash register. The cashier greeting him with a large smile, it made Gerard's day a little bit better, so he gave a small smile back. He had hazel eyes and gauges in his ear. Gerard noticed the tattoos on his fingers and neck. He also had small fringe that swooped to the right and his hair seemed to be spiky in the back from what Gerard could see. 

The cashier scanned his items and as Gerard handed him the money, it was quickly rejected by the man. "It's on the house," he said, smiling. "Just don't tell my boss, deal?" 

"Deal," Gerard spoke softly, a small smile gracing his lips. "Thank you."

"No problem, happy holidays and stuff dude," he said as Gerard began to walk out the door. 

Gerard looked back at him giving him a small wave and a grateful smile. He doesn't know if it was the holidays, but Gerard seemed to be getting really lucky lately. 

Gerard went to find the park bench he slept at the other night to get himself some food in his stomach. He unwrapped his sandwich. He swears, his stomached jumped in happiness once he took the first bite. He hummed contently and took another bite of his sandwich, swinging his feet back and forth, a habit he got himself into whenever he was happy or excited. He took his water bottle out of the plastic bag he was given and took a sip of it.

He ended up being unable to finish the sandwich, he felt like if he took another bite he'd vomit. He wasn't used to having so much food. It made him feel a bit sickly, but he was more than happy to save it for later. It probably would cold by then but food was food. 

\--

He sat on the bench for a while waiting for the nausea to go away. Occasionally he'd let out a small hiccup or two, some vomit would come up along with it but he was quick to make sure it stayed down. He really didn't want to waste his food. Eventually he finally got up and went to find a cheap store. He walked downtown and scanning stores, looking for something he recognized to have cheap prices. 

Gerard found a Kmart and walked inside, grabbing a small crate also catching quite a few rude glances. He looked around to see if he could find any rain boots and a jacket. He went into the clothing second and found himself a jacket that was cheap and looked like it would be comfy and warm. It costed thirteen dollars. He threw it in the crate and looked for a pair of rain boots. He found some in the women's clothing that were his size, they were polka-dot and Kmart was having a sale so it was nine ninety-nine from twelve ninety-nine. Gerard grabbed the shoes and dropped them into his basket. 

While Gerard was walking and looking for a cash register he came across a sketch book that was only four ninety nine. He just couldn't say no. For all he knows, he could make money from his sketches if people were willing to buy them. He looked around the aisle he found the sketch book, looking for pencils. He found a set for one nineteen. Gerard went to the self check-out counter, scanning all of his items which came up to twenty nine dollars and seventeen cents. He puts his items in a bag and walked out of the store. 

He found himself a park bench near a bus stop to sit at as he said his final goodbye to his old shoes. They certainly held a lot of memories, good and bad. Gerard pulled the shoes off, exposing his feet to the cold air. He replaces is old converses with new polka dot rain boots and put on his new jacket, practically absorbing the immediate warmth he was given. He tossed his shoes into the trash can near the bench and took out his sketch book. He opened it and ran a hand across the page, a wave of nostalgia hitting him. He hasn't drawn in a while, the last sketch book he had was stolen. 

He immediately reached back into the bag for his pencils and ripped the package open. He pulled out a pencil, thankful they were sharpened for him already. He immediately began sketching the first thing that came to his head which was Jack Skellington. He would usually watch The Nightmare Before Christmas around this time of the year. Even the though of drawing Jack Skellington brought him another wave of nostalgia. He let out a content sigh and began letting his hand work around the page, zoning out the world around him. Once he was done he admired his work, he saw that his lines weren't very smooth and his shading didn't always stay in the lines. But for his hands to be shaky, he didn't think he did too bad. 

"Wow, that's really good," Gerard heard someone say once he finally closed his sketch book. Gerard looked around, finding that it was getting a bit late. 

"Thank you," he said timidly, he looked over to the person who said it. It was the guy who gave him the free meal at quick check.

"Did you draw anything else in that book?" He asked. Gerard shook his head. "Ah, you were drawing Jack Skellington right?" he asked. 

Gerard nodded, "Yes."

"Dude, that's my favorite movie of all time," he enthused. 

"Me too," Gerard said, smiling a bit. 

"Maybe I could buy the drawing from you?" He asked. 

"Um.. you can have it for free.." Gerard said. "Because of the free lunch."

"Aw, you remembered me," he said, but it sounded like it was mostly to himself. "But I insist, I'd rather buy it off of you, how does five dollars sound to you- that's all I have on me, honestly," he said laughing a bit. 

"Are you sure?" Gerard asked.

The man nodded eagerly, "Of course," he pulled out his wallet and looked for his money. "Shit, um, will you be here tomorrow?"

"I- I don't really know where I'll be tomorrow." 

"Maybe you could stay here for one more night?" The guy suggested.

"O-okay," Gerard said, smiling bit.

"Please save that Jack Skellington drawing for me," he said. Gerard nodded eagerly. "Promise?"

"I promise." He held out his pinky finger. Gerard giggled a bit a latched his pinky finger with the man. 

"Pinky promise," he said grinning. "Oh- that's my bus," the man said. "I'll see you tomorrow, remember, we pinky promised!" He said running to his bus. 

Gerard watched the man with a small smile on is face going on the bus. Gerard waved at the man, immediately getting a wave back and almost falling as the bus jolted and started driving. He laughed a bit as the bus drove off. 

Gerard took it upon himself to make the drawing look better by adding a moon in the background with a silhouette of a grave on a small hill. He was going to try to make the drawing as good as he could for the man.


	3. Chapter Three

You know that feeling you get when someone is looking at you? That's what made Gerard wake up. 

He opened his eyes with three boys staring down at him. One boy had strawberry blonde hair, kind of slim, but seemed to be more muscular than the other boys. One with black hair falling over his face, but could still see his general face, it looked like his eyes were rimmed with eyeliner. The last boy had natural brown hair styled into a quiff.

To him, it looked like an odd trio, a sporty boy, a pretty boy and.. an emo boy. The ginger boy, a.k.a, the sporty boy's hair was spiky and he has piercing blue eyes. The pretty boy and emo boy both had brown eyes. 

Almost as soon as Gerard finished processing their faces, the boy with black hair easily swiped his sketch book from his arms and they all ran off laughing like it was the funniest thing they've ever experienced. Gerard immediately got up and went to chase them. They turned down a corner and he followed them. As soon as he went to the corner they went on, they were gone. "No, no, no!" He exasperated. He was devastated, he was outraged, sad and angry all at once. They stole his last bit of hope. It was all in that sketch book.

And that man's drawing! 

Running a hand through his messy and dry hair, he walked back to the bench that acted as his bed for the night. He was supposed to be waiting for the man. He sat on the bench contemplating whether he should stay or not. Gerard didn't have anything to give, there was no longer a point to waiting anymore. He didn't have anything to give him. 

He was going to leave. 

He knew he could easily buy another sketch book, but really, he didn't have enough money to constantly waste on little luxuries like that. He needed to save his money for food. Speaking of food, he still had the rest of his sandwich. He grabbed the bag he stuffed into the corner of the bench and pulled his sandwich out. He ate another small portion before he began feeling sick again. There was only a bite left but he felt so much like he was going to vomit that he didn't want to risk wasting all of his food. He wasn't sure whether or not he should keep the last bite or not. Deciding to keep it, he carefully wrapped it up and stuffed it into his pocket.

Luckily they didn't steal his pencils or money. If that had happened, he would've really been screwed.

He pushed himself off the bench and began walking off to—not even he knew where. He was just going to walk.

\--

Frank walked out of Quick Chek, waving at his boss and coworkers, "See you Monday Frank," his boss said.

"Yep, Monday, bye!" 

He made his way to the bus stop in front of Kmart, wondering if he should light a cigarette or not, shoving his hand in his coat pocket, feeling for the pack of cigarettes. 

He decided against it, considering the chances of the man he was going to get that drawing from being asthmatic.

Once he arrived to the bus stop, the man wasn't there. Frank could only stay there until his bus arrived. Maybe he was getting food. Frank grabbed his phone out of his pocket and saw that he had a picture message from his friend Pete. Along with the message saying, hey look what i found!!

He unlocked his phone seeing that the picture Pete sent looked exactly like the picture that man drew- the one he was going to buy today. "What the hell?" he asked himself. He sent a text message to Pete asking where he got it from. 

Right after he sent the message, Frank thought, fuck it, I'm gonna call him. He dialed Pete's number, waiting a moment for the dialing tone to end, "Woah pal, you didn't even give me a chance to answer damn," he said as soon as he answered. 

"Where'd you get it from?"

 

"Does it really matter?" Pete asked from the other line. "You like it right?"

Frank sighed, "Y-yeah but, funny thing is, I was planning on buying a picture that looked just like that."

"Oh.." Pete responded trailing off. He cleared his throat, "Um.. why buy it when you can have it free?" 

"How did you get it?" Frank asked, dismissing him.

Pete sighed, "I know you're gonna get mad at me for this, 'cause you're all no stealing and shit," Pete said. "But Bob, Brendon, and me saw this dude on the bench, sleeping and stuff so we wanted to fuck around a bit right? So I like snatched his sketch book and we ran." He explained. "I swear, I had intentions to return it, I promise. But I found the picture and—"

"You know he was homeless right?"

"I-I don't know, I didn't take the time to remember his face." 

"He's homeless you fucking asshole!" Frank yelled. "I was trying to buy it off him for a fucking reason—he was even nice enough to offer it for free and I asked him, not expecting my friends to jack the fuckin' photo from him, to stay here one more night because I didn't have any money!" He explained angrily. "Now he's no where to be fucking seen, and he doesn't even have his sketchbook because of you dicks." 

"I know.." He sighed, "I fucked up."

"I know, I know," Frank mocked. "If you knew so fucking well why haven't you learned to not steal yet, huh?" He asked. "You pull this shit all the fucking time, and what are you gonna do when your ass ends up in jail?" 

"I'll return it," Pete said, feeling like a grade A piece of shit. It was the first time Frank has ever snapped like this on him. Why the hell was he getting so defensive anyways? Pete decided to keep that question to himself. Maybe he was really just getting fed up with all the mischief they get themselves caught up in. 

"Well we can't really do that if he not here can we?" It was rhetorical question, he knew but Pete still felt like he should answer it somehow.

"I-"

Frank ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "Just- just give me the fucking book and I'll try to look for him tomorrow," he said getting up as the bus rolled in. "Tell Brendon that I'm borrowing his car." 

"Brendon, Frank said he's gonna borrow your car tomorrow!" Pete yelled over the other line. 

"Why the fuck-" 

"Just go with it, he's like really pissed right now." 

Frank hung up the phone and got on the bus, he payed his fee and took a seat on vehicle.

\--

"I swear to fucking God you guys are so stupid," Frank said when he walked into Pete's house. "Where's the sketch book?" 

"Uh, right here," Pete said. 

Frank sighed and took the book out of his hands and opened it, making sure everything was still in tact. Property of Gerard Way it said on the inside of the cover. No contact information however. But that was to be expected. "You guys really gotta stop with this shit man." 

"Why the hell are you getting so defensive over this one of all things we stole?" Bob asked when he walked out of the kitchen. "It's just a fucking sketchbook. We stole things way more valuable." 

Frank just glared at Bob, "I'll come back tomorrow for your car Brendon," he said. 

"Whatever dude," he sighed, waving Frank off lazily.

\--

Frank opened his door to his apartment, immediately being greeted by his dog sweet pea. "Aw, hey girl," he said ushering her back into the home before she ran off or something. He picked sweet pea up, receiving many licks from her on her face and small whimpers and yelps of excitement. Frank scrunched his nose up muttering an, "Ew, gross," while giggling a bit. He put her down and wiped his face on his sleeve to get rid of the moist feeling. 

Frank walked into his kitchen with sweet pea trotting behind him, following his every step. He placed the sketch book on the table, gently sweeping his hand over it like it had some sort of dust on it. He opened the book, seeing the name again. "Gerard Way, huh.." 

\--

Frank woke up in the morning to sweet pea licking his face. "Agh, fucking gross," he muttered, hacking when sweet pea licked his mouth, "Okay, enough is enough, missy," he sounded strained as he picked sweet pea up and pushed himself into the sitting up position as well. "Ready for some food?" He asked, getting up and walking to the kitchen. He set sweet pea on the floor and looked through his cabinet to get her food. He poured her kibbles and bits into the bowl then picked up her other bowl and filled it with water. 

Frank heard a knock on his door. He put sweet pea's bowl on the floor. Frank jogged to the door, "Coming!" He called. 

He opened the door and was greeted by Brendon, "I brought the car to you so I could, y'know save you the trouble," he explained. He passed the car keys over to Frank and Frank put them in his pocket. "And I'm really sorry about yesterday man," he said. "Pete and Bob told me they were only going shopping and then that happened." 

"Nah it's cool man, I was wondering why the hell you were involved too," Frank said. "Anyways I'm gonna go back inside, I'm starting to feel some breezing come in," he said rubbing his bare arms. "Thanks for the keys."

"Just like, return it to me tomorrow or something," Brendon said walking off.

"Okay." Frank closed the door and went back inside and went to get dressed. 

\--

"Alright sweet pea, I'm going out. Be a good girl," Frank said patting her with one hand and holding the sketchbook in the other. He heard her yelp when he closed the door behind him. She doesn't like when he leaves. 

He walked into the snow that was looking thicker and thicker everyday. Instead of it being a sheet, it was almost to a full on blanket of snow. 

Frank placed the sketchbook on the passenger seat and started the car. He drove around the city for awhile, occasionally stopping to check some alleyways for who Frank assumed was named Gerard. 

He asked around some places and it didn't seem he was well known around this area. No one recognized his name or anything. 

Frank drove all the way to the other side of town which wasn't too far. Frank also ended up checking alleyways there too. 

The longer and longer it took searching for Gerard, Frank was losing more and more hope. 

\--

Eventually it was around six pm that Frank decided to call a quits, hopefully he would come across the boy again one day, Frank owed him five dollars. And Frank really wanted him to get that five dollars.


	4. Chapter Four

Gerard was near a new frozen lake. It wasn't a thick sheet of ice over this water. He could literally throw a rock and it'd crash right through it. He hugged his knees to his chest. There wasn't a bench for him to sleep on this time. He'd have to tough it out in the grass. He was lucky that the snow wasn't too thick there. His jacket could only hold so much moisture before it became uncomfortably wet and cold.

He slowly lowered himself onto the icy grass, hissing as the ice melted from his body heat. The freezing liquid seeped through his jeans, ironically burning his skin. Gerard balled his sleeves into his hands and curled his shivering body into a fetal position, trying to cover himself from the harsh winter wind as much as he could. He no longer had a sketch book. He didn't have enough money that he was willing to spend on something that wasn't necessary. To him, that being a sketch book. He just needed to focus on what really mattered. 

Food, water, and surviving.

Everything always get tougher in the Winter. The homeless were struggling even more. Some having to go to desperate measures to get what they needed to survive and not freeze to death. He knew how it went. You either make it or don't make it. There's no in between. Especially in the winter. Today he was unable to try to look for any sort of food. His head was pounding and he was feeling incredibly light headed and weak. 

This by far was the worst winter he's ever had to endure with his four years being homeless. He's lost all the items he worked so hard to collect. Only one person has donated once December rolled around. Everyone was too busy spending their money on others for the holidays. Therefore they had nothing to give except a apologetic or pitiful glance. 

But Gerard was at least grateful for those who took the time to acknowledge him, even if they were just pitying him. At least he was a thought in their mind at a point, even if the thought was quickly forgotten. 

He closed his eyes getting himself adjusted to the cold. He let out a small sigh before he fell asleep.

\--

Gerard was rudely awaken by a punch to the face, he let out a small groan and opened his eyes. Before he could process anything, another punch was delivered. He felt someone hands feeling on him. Seeing if he had anything to spare. He was practically treating Gerard like a rag doll. Oh no, he thought. He immediately tried to protect his belongings with the little bit of strength he could muster. He curled into himself even more, trying to stiffen his body so they wouldn't take anything. He felt another pair of hands grab his arms and easily prying everything out of his grip. "Stop!" Gerard yelled, opening his eyes, only to get another blow to the face. He managed to see that it wasn't only one person trying to steal from him. 

"Shut up!" One of them slurred delivering a few more hits to him before white spots dotted his vision.

\--

He woke up again in agony. He was sure his body was bruised. He was freezing, shivering. He saw that his jacket clothed arms were now covered with bruises instead. Suddenly last night came flooding back to him. He remembered those guys who robbed him. He sat up, seeing the snow next to him tinted red. He touched his face. If there was blood, it must have dried up. He felt through his jean pockets. There was nothing. He got up and checked his back pockets. Nothing there either. "No.." he mumbled helplessly. He felt all around his body in hopes of finding something, anything. 

They took everything. 

"Why me?" He asked himself, on the verge of tears. "No.." he said again. He could feel breath become more shallow. His money was the only way he was going to get food. If he didn't have any money he couldn't get any food. If he couldn't get any food he would starve even more. He was already bone thin. So thin and malnourished and weak it was difficult for him to stand or walk.

There wasn't a soul in sight. No one to help him, no one. He felt his breathing becoming restricted and his chest tightening, he didn't know what to do at this point. This wasn't the first time he was in a situation like this, but it always messed him up. It always left him with the question of what am I going to do now? He never knows the answer to that question. He always found his strength in a solution but he doesn't always find a solution so he would end up panicking. 

Like he is now.

Gerard ran a trembling hand through his cold dirty hair. His eyes were wide, shifting in every direction, seeing if there was anyone who could help. Anyone who was willing to help. His tears were beginning to fall off his lashes, one after another. He tried to take deep breaths to calm himself, but he couldn't find anything calming about starving.

After being choked up for so long, he eventually let out a sob, pacing his spot on the ground. He could see an imprint of where his body was laying. He would probably find comical if he were in different circumstances.

He paced around the grass, knowing it wasn't making him feel any better. Just dizzy. 

Gerard attempted to take another deep breath. 

Inhale.

Slowly, Exhale.

He felt his chest loosen up a bit. He didn't feel so restricted of air anymore. But he still felt on edge, he was trying think calm and rationally. What do I do next? Was the question on his mind. He'd have to go asking for change again. 

Gerard walked to the edge of the lake and took a seat, just staring into the distance. He felt a breeze causing him to shiver even more. He let out a shaky breath. He wasn't panicking now, he was just cold. He ran his hands on his arms, feeling goosebumps form along his skin.

Sitting in front of a frozen over lake definitely wasn't going to get him any warmer. It was just calming. And that's what he needed right now. Something to clear his thoughts. A quiet open place. 

Lakes were always a calming place for him ever since he went homeless. Well, it's always been calming for him. Especially when the water was moving. But really, any body of water was calming to Gerard. A lake or pond was what he just happened to come across most. 

He brought himself to his feet and made his way to the city. Finally able to think straight, he went to a fairly busy place. 

Back in the same position he was in a few days ago, open palm but still empty. No one was concerned about his well being but he didn't expect anyone to be concerned for someone like him. He hasn't done anything remarkable for his community that he could remember. All he did was stand against his parents because of something they had a huge disagreement on. But that was something he did for himself. But that's also what made him end up out here. 

He lost his family to something that shouldn't have been that big of a deal. But they made it a big deal out of it. So they told him to leave. And that's what he did. He took everything that was his and left, not knowing that it'd be gone quicker than he thought. 

He brought so many valuable things thinking that a life like this wouldn't be so difficult. But he was wrong. He was so so wrong. He thought he was just going to be traveling until he found a new start. But he has been traveling, but he never found a new start, and days like today makes him think he never will. 

After a while, he eventually closed his palm, not feeling anything but a single penny that was thrown at him. He hung his head down, feeling hopeless. The feeling wasn't foreign to him. He felt hopeless more often than not, but he tried to keep himself positive. But most times it was difficult. It wasn't easy to see the bright side of having to live days without food, having constant headaches, dizzy spells, and difficulty doing simple things like walking or standing, and having no one that cared. And Gerard always tells himself to not expect anything from anyone. He learned that on his first year being homeless; no one owes him anything.

But he still couldn't help but hope that maybe just maybe someone would have it in their heart to help him. He didn't want a feast, he just wanted some food and possibly a few dollars. Something to get him by for the next few days. He didn't do what many people expected him, as a homeless person, to do when they were given money. He wasn't going to spend it all on alcohol. He was only concerned about what he needed, excluding the sketchbook and pencils. 

He let out a small sigh, giving up for now. It was getting difficult to hold his arm out like that. He shoved the single penny that was thrown at him into his pocket, using all of his will not to throw it and scream in frustration, because that's exactly what he wanted to do at this point. Just let a loud satisfying scream rip through his vocal cords. But he couldn't throw the penny because he had to take what he could get and if he screamed, that'll definitely lower his chances of getting any sort of donation in fear of him doing something to them.

But he was just so sick and tired of having his things taken away by people who didn't need as much as he did. From people who used it for recreational purposes. Every time he lost something it was taken from someone drunk or when he wasn't quick enough to retrieve his items during a homeless sweep. They didn't understand how hard it was to get every piece of crap they collected and deemed as valuable or useful. And it was clear that they didn't give a single shit about what they've managed to gather. It just looked trash to them. It smelled like trash them. Therefore it was trash to them.

He's lost so much in the last four years because of the homeless sweeps alone. He lost even more because he was mobbed and robbed. And it would take so long to restore what you've managed to gather without the money to just buy it. But nothing will ever be the same as it was before. But it seemed like Gerard was an easy target in the real world just like he was in school. He got robbed far too many times to be seen as some sort of coincidence. He knew he was unhealthily skinny and almost all bone, it was clear that he couldn't do much for himself in terms of defense. So he would be the first person someone would go to. But now he has nothing but the clothes on his back and a penny to his name, so he'll probably be left a lone for a while. So that's something to be positive about.


	5. Chapter Five

Frank plopped down onto the couch, placing the sketch book to his side. After one week of searching, he's found no signs of that man. Gerard. Sweet pea jump onto the couch, investigating the book. "No," Frank scolded when he saw that she was getting ready to claw at the book. 

He sighed and let his head fall back onto the couch. He couldn't have gotten so far by foot. He thought to himself. "I've just gotta be looking in all the wrong places," he said, trying to encourage himself to keep looking. 

He was determined to give this book back to Gerard. He was just losing hope in finding him. He went out every day of this week, Gerard's sketch book clutched to his side, to search for him. But Frank is thinking that tomorrow he should take a new approach, finally return Brendon's car keys and walk around the town for as long as he can. Do a more thorough search through the alley ways and around shops. Look where ever he could. 

So far he might have done about two to three hours of searching each day, never finding anything. But he didn't get out of the car to check every single crack and crevice of the town. He didn't know if Gerard had a certain type of spot where he liked to sleep at, he was just looking around places that the homeless were usually spotted. 

Frank pulled out his phone and dialed Brendon's number. "Hello?" He heard Brendon ask over the other line. 

"Hey Brends," Frank greeted. "I'm gonna give you your car keys back tomorrow."

"Oh finally," he said sighing in relief. "I almost thought you were never going to stop looking for that dude."

"I haven't stopped," Frank stated, shifting his body to make himself more comfortable on the couch. "I'm just going by foot next time."

"Oh." There was a slight pause before anyone said anything else. "Why do you keep looking for him? I think you should just give up already."

Frank exhaled slowly, trying not to get irritated. They've been telling him this after the first day he went searching for him. "I need to return the book," he said.

"He could be anywhere by this point," Brendon said. He had a point, he admitted to himself. "There's honestly no point Frank, I'm sorry."

"Just one more day," he bargained with a sigh. "Then I'll stop," he said. He knew was lying through his teeth. He heard Brendon sigh.

"Suit yourself dude," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright bye. Thanks for the car," he ended the call, throwing his phone on the other side of the couch with an irritated sigh. He wouldn't have been so obsessed with searching if it weren't for them. He got up and looked through his fridge for something to eat with Sweet Pea trotting behind him. He found a prepacked salad and pulled that out. 

\--

After he finished eating he fed his dog who immediately began jumping and around excitedly, as he filled her bowls. He left the kitchen as she began eating and kicked off his shoes. He went into his room and looked out the window, seeing that the snow fall was getting heavier and heavier. He wondered how Gerard was hanging in there. 

He wasn't sure why he was so concerned about the man. Maybe it's because his friends are the reason to his misfortune. Or because the homeless is where he found his greatest friend, Sweet Pea. That's gotta be it. He closed the blinds and stripped himself of everything but his boxers. He looked into his dresser for a pair of pajama pants and put them on. 

Frank took himself back into the living room, picking the sketchbook off the couch so Sweet Pea wouldn't get to it. He put it onto the table. Sweet Pea acknowledged him and she yelped and stood herself up using Frank's legs as a lever. Frank lowered himself down and picked her up and she licked his face. "That's nasty," he said, smiling anyways. He carried Sweet Pea into the room with him, placing her on the bed. He laid down as well getting under his blankets and closed his eyes falling off into sleep

Frank woke up to his alarm. He slammed his hand down on the button. He felt Sweet Pea jump onto his back and began sniffing him. "Stop it," he mumbled. He rolled over slowly to get her off and got out of bed. Sweet Pea jumped off the bed and followed him. 

Frank looked through his dresser. He grabbed his white polo shirt and khaki's for his job. He left out the house for work with his big fluffy jacket, skeleton gloves, and a beanie. 

\--

Frank made his way to work, sketch book tucked under his armpit, keeping an eye out for the homeless man. He glanced into the alleyways every time he passed one. He even dared to creep a little further in if there was something blocking his line of sight such as a dumpster. On his way to work he's never found any signs of the man.

Once he got into the store he made his way to the employee's lounge and clocked in. He put the sketchbook into his locker and grabbed his apron and Santa hat. He quickly put them on and made his way to the register. Frank nodded to his coworker Patrick as he left for the day. "See ya Frank," he said as he left out the door. He checked the time and saw that it was only a little past seven AM. He pulled out his phone. It was never really busy at all during this hour. He texted Brendon letting him know that he'd return the car after work. 

Frank stuffed his phone back into his pocket rocking on his heels as he waited for a customer. After a while there was nothing so he roamed around the store seeing if there was anything that was needed to be done. As usual it seems as though Patrick took care of it already. Frank went to the back where the cooks were. "Bert?" He called. He heard him hum from the back. Eventually footsteps started coming towards him.

"Oh Patrick already clocked out huh?" He asked. Frank nodded, "What can I do for you?" 

Frank let out a dramatic pitiful sigh, "I'm hungry." 

Bert laughed, "Of course you are, what do you want?" 

He shrugged, "Something without meat." 

Bert rolled his eyes, "I'll get you your usual." Frank nodded with a grin. 

"Call me back when you're done, thank you!" He called as he went to the register, still not a customer in sight. After about five minutes, he heard the bell in the store ring, coincidentally Bert calling him at the same time. "One second," he called back to Bert as he waited for the customer to get what they wanted and so he could ring them up. He felt his stomach growl lightly. He silently wished they'd hurry up even though they haven't been in the shop for a minute. 

A moment later the person was at the register, "Hello! Welcome to Quick Chek, did you find everything okay?" Frank asked cheerfully. They smiled nodding and they put their items on the counter.

"Can I get a pack of cigarettes," they asked. 

"ID?" He asked. The customer pulled out their ID and it was valid. Frank passed it back and grabbed the keys to the cabinet for cigarettes and went to open it. "What brand?" 

"Newport," they responded. He got the pack of Newport cigarettes and rung them up along with everything else. He gave the customer their total. 

"Thank you for shopping at Quick Chek, have a nice day," Frank said politely. He watched as the first customer of the day left the shop. Once they were out of sight Frank immediately ran to the back where Bert was with his food. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Frank said unwrapping the sandwich, taking a bite out of it. 

"No problem kid," he responded. "Ray is gonna be coming in in like an hour."

Frank nodded, "He doesn't give me free food." He said laughing then proceeded to take another bite out of it. 

Bert chuckled, "He actually values his job." Frank nodded in agreement.

\--

The rest of his day at work was uneventful, passing like any other. Tending to customers, talking to Bert or Ray when the store was empty. He took off his Santa hat, shoving it into his locker along with his green apron. He slid the sketchbook from under the clothes then closed the locker and put the lock on. "I'll see you tomorrow Ray," he said, leaving the convenience store. 

He felt a breeze of wind hit him, making his snuggle further into his jacket as he began to walk down the street in search for the owner of the sketch book. He cautiously stepped into an alley way after peeking his head in. He saw that there was a fire going in a fairly large trash. There were a few people gathered around it, none of them looking like the man he was looking for. Hell, Frank never even got a good look at the man himself. But he knows he'll if it's him once he sees him. 

But these three men were all large men. The guy he was looking for was small. Taller, than Frank but it was clear that he weighed less. A lot less. Frank examined the alley way for any people besides those three men surrounding the fire. 

He walked out of the alleyway disappointed as he found nothing. He let out a sigh, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that Brendon was calling. "Where are you?" He asked.

"Oh, um," Frank looked around. "I'm on my way home," he turned around going to the direction towards home. He remembered that he was supposed to return Brendon's car. 

"Are you telling me that you had access to a car but didn't use it?" He asked.

"Uh.. yes," Frank responded laughing a bit as he walked down the snowy road. He heard Brendon tut on the other end of the line. "Oh fuck off," he laughed. "Exercise." 

\--

Frank popped his head into his apartment grabbing Brendon's keys from the bookshelf next to the door. He saw Sweet Pea come from the kitchen, "Daddy will be right back." He said quickly then came out, closing the door behind him. He heard Sweet Pea whine from the inside of the house, he hated when she did that. It made his heart break a little bit. He walked outside of the complex and got into Brendon's car then drove down to his house. 

After about ten minutes he was at Brendon's house. He knocked on his door. "Finally," he said rolling his eyes dramatically. Frank held his keys up and Brendon held his hand out and Frank dropped them in. "I've been having to walk everywhere for the past week thanks to you."

Frank shrugged, unapologetic. "Well I'm gonna go," he said. "Thanks for the car Brends." 

"No problem," he said with a smile. "Anytime."


	6. Chapter Six

Frank stood at his cash register, head automatically turning to the door every time he heard the bell ring in hopes that maybe Gerard would just walk in. But like usual, he was disappointed to see that it was just another regular customer. 

It's been a good two weeks since Frank last saw the man. Not that those two weeks were good. He was still extremely worried about a guy he barely knew. 

He still wasn't even sure if his reasons for being concerned for him were valid. Maybe another reason could be because the boy seemed really sweet and soft spoken in the brief conversation they engaged themselves in.

Unfortunately he fell off his routine of checking for Gerard each day as work was beginning to take a toll on him. People tended to stop in more often for coffee/hot cocoa breaks. Many of the staff took off as the holidays were coming in and the weather was getting harsher. It made Frank feel a tad bit guilty as this was probably the worst time of the year to start slacking. The snow was getting a lot heavier. In fact it made Frank feel very guilty.

However, luckily, his break has started already. Normally his break would be kind of nonexistent but the snow was sort of enabling just about anyone to work which is causing his boss to freak out because Quick Chek closes little to almost never, it's a 24/7 convenience store. 

He was currently preparing himself to visit his parents for their annual Christmas parties. The party was on Christmas Eve and that would be when everyone would get their parents. The party was typically an all day event. Usually Frank would wait until Christmas to open his presents because he usually spent the night on Christmas Eve. 

The Iero's had a big family, although their family was very dysfunctional. His mother's side didn't like his father's side and vice versa. No one in Frank's family wasn't too fond of him since he was openly gay. It took a while for his parents to come around to it, although they were still a bit weirded out by it, but they tried their best to love him all the same. He was their only child after all. 

Usually during their family gatherings, they made sure it was small. Sometimes it would end up getting a lot larger than intended because getting and invitation clearly gives you the right to invite as well. Sarcasm. 

One relative would end up inviting another relative and so on and so forth. They usually tried to invite the more civilized and opened minded family members but some how one of the elders and old-fashioned Iero's would get into the mix meaning immediate criticism on Frank and his life style which wasn't that much different from a heterosexual man. He just liked men, that was all. He still worked like any other person would. He wasn't a party person, he wasn't looking for hook ups and he wouldn't really say he was flamboyant like they probably suspected many gays would be as a stereotype. 

But as the Christmas parties when in from year to year there were less mishaps and not as many 'extras' coming in. Everyone realized it was a huge mistake to mix up certain parts of the two families. Frank just hoped he had the same luck as he has for the past couple of years with these Christmas parties go on. He called up a cab and they said they would be there in about ten to fifteen minutes. Frank grabbed his parents gift bags along with another bag full of small toys for the younger children that might be there along with a couple of knick-knacks. He made sure he left out enough food and water for Sweet Pea.

By this point he was honestly contemplating getting her a babysitter for his dog. He knew he was only going to be gone a day, but he loved his little girl and never really liked leaving her unattended. He was like a daughter to him. He crouched down making that kissy sound. Sweet Pea lifted herself up on her hind legs using the front ones to lean on Frank's knee, holding herself up. "Daddy's gonna be gone until tomorrow," he cooed in a high pitched voice that you'd talk to a young child in. 

He leaned his head in and felt Sweet Pea lick his face and he giggled, stroking her fur. He heard a car horn outside of his apartment, assuming it was his cab he got up. "Bye Sweet Pea," he said petting her fur for the last time today. He went out the door, shooing Sweet Pea away gently. He put his bags down for a second to lock his door. 

He made his way to the first floor of his complex and out the door he was. He looked around spotting his cab a little before the corner of the street. He heard it beep again, he began to run to the cab so it wouldn't pull off. He waved his hands to let whoever was driving it know he was coming. Frank got into the back seat, placing his bags besides him. "Where to?" The man asked. He had a strong New Jersey accent. He saw the man stare at him through the window. He seemed to be a rather old man with. He smelled strongly of cigarettes, he could also see streams of smoke hovering in the front seat. 

He gave the man his parent's address and off they were with Frank feeling incredibly uncomfortable in the back seat of this cab as this man did not seem to be too focused on the road. 

He managed to get to his parent's house unscathed, with the exception of the painful thumping in his chest as they had a really close call back at that last turn. He payed the man his fee, earning a scowl when the cab driver noticed there wasn't a tip in there. Frank closed the door behind him. He walked up to his parent's porch. He took a deep breathe, hoping for the best. He knocked on three times before it was answered by his grandmother's sister. "Frank," she greeted.

"Oh," Frank sighed, trying not make the distress evident in his voice. "Hello, is my mom home?"

"No, she went out to get drinks," she informed. "However, your father is."

"Can I..?" He asked referring to getting inside. She stepped out the entry way of the door begrudgingly letting him in. He made a beeline to the kitchen to avoid any further conversation with her. He saw his father in the kitchen chatting with a couple of other relatives. 

"Ah, Frank!" He said. "How are you son?"

"I've been good," Frank smiled. His father pulled him into a hug. "You remember Adam, Luke, and Thomas right?" He asked, Frank assumed it was the three boys in front of him who looked about his age.

Frank hummed, "No." He said honestly. Frank heard his dad let out a loud cackle. 

"They're your cousins," he said. Frank nodded taking the information, he saw them all give polite smiles and he returned one. 

\--

Most of the night went by meeting new people, and his mother asking if he's met any special people yet. "No not yet mom," Frank responded with an embarrassed blush on his face. 

"Oh why not? You're so handsome."

"Maybe it's because of all of those holes in your face," his grandmother's sister cut in. He heard his mother sigh. Frank just sat there with an awkward smile, suddenly feeling self conscious about his facial piercings. 

The room only had him, his older aunt, and his mother. His great aunt seemed to just be following him everywhere he went throughout the day. 

As the day went by people slowly began filing out their home. His great aunt has taken it upon herself to spend the night as well. It was clear that his mother or father didn't want that, but they also felt as though they couldn't refuse her. 

"Frank do you want me to pack you up some of the left overs?" His mother called from the kitchen. 

"Yes," Frank responded playing with his parents dog who was finally let inside after all the guest left. "Thank you," he said a moment later with a delighted smile on his face that soon scrunched up as the dog licked his face. "Gross," he giggled.

"So you still haven't gotten over your homosexual phase yet, huh?" His great aunt asked with a hint of disgust in her tone. Frank's smile immediately vanished as that question was asked and his attention was a averted from the dog now to his aunt who was sitting on the recliner chair in the living room. 

Frank forced a smile onto his face, "It's not a phase," he said with an awkward laughter. 

"Well–"

"I'm gonna go to bed," Frank announced getting up from the floor. He walked upstairs to with his parents dog Bela right behind him. "Goodnight," he called. 

He sat in his former room with Bela's head rested in his lap. Every time she came she always had something degrading to say to Frank especially. He heard someone knock on his door. "Come in," he said.

"Your aunt is a close minded bitter old woman," his mother said. "She doesn't like me either." Frank let out a breathy laugh. "I told your father to tell her that she's no longer invited to the our family gathers, so I'm waiting to see how she takes that." His mom took a seat on the bed next to her son. 

"Oh man she's gonna be pissed," he said. 

His mom laughed and nodded. She ruffled Frank's hair, "But you're a handsome young man, with or without your piercings," she said. Frank smiled a bit. 

"I've been too busy working to try to get with anyone," Frank said sighing. "The holidays came in and people started calling out more often so the shifts got longer, blah blah blah," he explained using a bunch of silly hand gestures as if it were helping to get his point across. 

His mother tutted shaking her head. "Well I'm gonna go back downstairs," she said. "And if your father hasn't done anything about your aunt I'll tell her to leave myself," she said chuckling a bit. She pressed a kiss to Frank's forehead, "Goodnight sweet heart." 

"Night mom," he responded. She left the room closing the door behind her. 

\--

Frank was just laying on his bed with his eyes shut, not really sleeping just relaxing. Bela was right by his side, she was probably asleep by this point. After a while Frank heard the door slam, alerting Bela to wake up. She immediately got up and ran to Frank's bed room door and began barking. "Bela!" Frank yelled with a stern tone. "Hush," he said. Bela stopped barking but continued to growl. 

A moment later he heard a knock on his door, "Come in." It was his mom again.

"She didn't take it well, especially coming from me," his mother said with an amused smile.

Frank grinned, "Clearly, what'd she say?"

His mother frowned slight, "Probably some things you don't want to hear."

His grin faltered slightly, "Of course," he said already knowing it was something about him. Frank's mother placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Well at least she won't be coming to any more Christmas parties - or any of our parties at all for that matter," she said. "Well you try to get some rest, you have some gifts to open tomorrow."

"Mom you're making me sound like a kid," Frank laughed.

"You are a kid," she said. "My kid." She smiled and got up and placed a kiss to her son's forehead. "Okay, now goodnight."

"Goodnight," Frank said.


	7. Chapter Seven

It was finally Christmas Day. Usually Frank wasn't too fond of Christmas because there would–more often than not–be a straggler let behind on that day. And it was usually the person in his family he disliked the most. But she wasn't coming to their holiday parties anymore. So this Christmas it was just him and his parents. It made him a lot more excited for Christmas, just like when he was a kid. 

His favorite part about Christmas wasn't really the gifts as he only really got small things since he always made it really complicated about what he wanted, which he was never really sure of, so he just enjoyed catching up with his parents because he didn't see them that often throughout the year. They didn't really live too far away they just lived a distance where Frank wasn't willing to walk. His parents house didn't follow the bus line, taxis were too expensive, and he was always so damn busy.

Yeah he had a day off here and there but he was around people all day and it was guaranteed that he was going to get shit from someone at least once a week, whether it was his boss or a customer, so it was natural that he would want some time to himself.

After giving himself a much needed stretch he pulled himself out of bed and got dressed. He put on a pair of slippers to protect him from the icy hallway floors and groggily dragged himself out of the room and went to the bathroom. He washed his face trying to wake himself up a bit more and brushed his teeth. He remembers every time he's here his mother would still ask if he brushed his teeth and scold him if he didn't.

Frank made his way downstairs and saw his family waiting for him with big smiles on their faces, "Merry Christmas!" They both cheered in unison.

Frank smiled back and let out a croaky Merry Christmas in response.

"Did you brush your teeth Frank?" His mother asked.

"Linda is that necessary?" Frank Sr. asked with a chuckle. 

"Yes, so did you Frank?" 

Frank laughed and nodded, "Yes." He scanned the room his gaze landing on the Christmas tree soon. He saw a big box under the tree. "Is that for me?" He asked. 

"Yes," his dad said. "And let me tell ya, your mom and I have been saving up for this since the beginning of the year for this." His dad let out a small grunt as he lifted up the box, "Muscles don't work like they used to.." he mumbled. He placed the box on his lap and looked at Frank expectantly. "Well I'm not gonna walk it over there to you! Get over here!" He laughed.

"Oh!" Frank let out an embarrassed giggle. "Sorry," he walked to a chair and pulled it near he Christmas tree and reached for the box. "What is it?" He asked mostly to himself in a hushed tone. 

"Well you won't know until you open it," his mom responded. Frank steadied the box in his hands and gave it one small shake. There wasn't too much movement just a small hallow knock and the box had a light vibration to it then it slowly faded out. His first thought was a guitar.

He immediately tore through the gift wrap, eager to cut into the box. His dad passed him a box cutter, already prepared. He watched his son quickly but gently dig the box cutter into the tape on the edges l.

Once he got through all the tape, it was finally the moment of truth; opening the box.

As soon as the gift was pulled through all of the cushioning and papers the guitar was revealed. However this was a Gibson guitar. "Holy shit.." he breathed, "These are fuckin' expensive. 

His father let out a stressed sigh, "No shit." 

Frank laughed, "Thank you guys so much," he got up holding firmly onto the neck of his guitar giving his parents half hugs. 

"We wanted to make sure it was the real one so we got it off the official website." 

"Thank you so much," he said again with an extremely happy giggle.

"Oh and that's not it," his mother stated. She slid a skinny but somewhat lengthy present from behind the couch. She tossed it to Frank, startling him a bit. After the initial shock of a present being thrown at him he immediately tore into the gift wrap revealing a guitar case. "So you don't have to carry that thing home," she said referring to the guitar.

Frank grinned widely running his hand along the bag. "Inside of that are some gifts for Sweet Pea–we didn't forget about her," his mom laughed.

"You guys really went for it this year huh?" He asked with a fond smile on his face. "Thank you, you guys are really the best." He opened the guitar bag and examined the contents inside. There were a couple of toys and sweaters along with a box of treats and a new collar for her. "She's gonna love these," he mumbled to himself. Her old collar was becoming warn down and fuzzy with lint all over it. Frank never really got the opportunity to get her one himself because the pets stores closest to him usually closed early and her old one was still secure just not as aesthetically pleasing. 

He pulled out everything in the bag and replaced it with his guitar and then placed Sweet Pea's things inside of a different compartment of the bag. 

"Are you gonna stay  while longer?" His mom asked. 

He looked out the window and nodded, "I'm not sure if I'm ready to handle that yet," he said rubbing the back of his neck. 

"Okay oatmeal for breakfast then?" She asked.

"Yeah," both Franks answered.

"I wasn't talking to senior Frank."

"Come on hun," he groaned. "He's more capable of making oatmeal than me."

"Thanks for offering me up dad," Frank said sarcasm lacing his tone. 

"Anytime kid."

\--

Gerard trudged through the snow and he could feel the weather taking a toll on him. He let out a very throaty and harsh cough and repeated that until his throat and chest began to hurt. The fact that it was so cold did nothing to soothe the pain in his chest, in fact, it only made it worst with every inhale. He couldn't see a single bench in sight and he was getting a dizzy spell. He knew he should go to a homeless shelter but he doesn't have any good memories there what so ever. He also didn't feel like he was going to take this weather too well, he could feel himself getting sick. 

His breath was shallowing and getting weaker as the minutes went by. It was hard to breathe comfortably with the cold piercing his lungs. This morning he had a slightly sore throat but it only got worst as the hours went by, right now he was just seeking shelter or somewhere warm. 

Unfortunately he didn't know a place where he wasn't bound to have bad luck at, everywhere he went someone always seemed to be out to get him. Even when he has close to nothing, they always found something to take. 

Gerard saw a park bench relatively close by and he really needed to get that seat. His vision was getting hazy and he was beginning to see doubles. He felt a little light headed and uncoordinated, like his knees would buckle at any given moment. 

He let out another dry cough and reached his hand up to rub throat. He could feel this knees taking him lower and lower to the ground as he walked and tried to stand himself back up again. 

Before he knew it his vision was black and his body was in the snow. 

\--

"Alright mom and dad I'll see you guys.." Frank scrunched his face up thinking for a moment, "...Eventually," he laughed. He hitched guitar up onto his shoulders and went outside to his cab. 

"Where to?" The driver asked. Frank gave the man his address and they were on their way to his home. Frank kept his gaze out to the window examining all of the snow that fell in the past few day. 

As they were driving by all he could see was hills of shoveled snow and blankets of snow where no one bothered to shovel, and then, "Wait, stop the cab," Frank said.

"What?" The driver asked but stopped the cab anyways. 

Frank blinked twice to check if he was seeing right. Yeah there was definitely someone in the snow. Frank examined his surroundings seeing that he was somewhat close to home. "Here is fine," he said. "What's my price?" 

"Uh, twenty twenty three, sir." 

Frank handed him a twenty dollar bill and a five dollar bill telling him to keep the change. He recognized that hair, brown with white tips, it was Gerard, he was almost certain it was. He grabbed his bag and tied it to his guitar case and ran over to him. He crouched down to him, "Hey?" He asked cautiously. He got no response. Frank grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse. He was still alive. Frank turned him onto his back and carried his bridal style, he was a quite a bit lighter than expected. Well in a way it as expected, he was extremely thin. 

His house was a little bit further down from here so he tried his best to walk him steadily down the side walk pacing himself so he wouldn't get too tired out while carrying him. He knew it wasn't smart to take someone you barely knew into your home but he needed help and Frank felt like he owed him anyways. He saw people giving him strange looks as he walked down the street with a limp body in his arms. He ignored it and continued walking.

A few steps later he was finally met at his apartment building. He leaned down and reached his hand out as much as he could and opened the door. He tried to quickly make his way to an elevator and prayed no one was in it. Just to his luck the elevator was empty and he was safe to go inside without questioning. He pressed the button for the second level and waited for a moment before he was there. Eventually the elevator binged and he was let out to the second floor passing a few people who gave him curious glances as they exchanged spots in the elevator.

Once he got to his door he let Gerard's lets down keeping him up right in one of his arms and he got his keys out of his pocket and opened the door. Sweet Pea immediately began barking at the entry of a stranger until Frank scolded her and told her to quiet down. He set Gerard down in a chair in his kitchen and quickly ran to his bathroom to grab a couple of spare towels and sheets to place on the couch so he could lay Gerard down so he could warm up. 

Once that was done he carried Gerard into the living and gently placed him on the couch. Frank knew he should give him a bath or something so he could get him into some clothes that weren't soiled. But he had to let him warm up slowly before he plunged him into some warm water all of a sudden. That would also give him sometime to run a bath and pray that he wakes up so he wouldn't feel like too much of a creep because he's doing it himself. The first thing Frank did was grab a pair of pajamas out. He saw Sweet Pea trotted behind him like a shadow waiting for his greeting. He gave her a quick acknowledgement, he picked her up and let her lick his face, "I've got something for you that you can have if you be a good girl," he cooed. He put her down and went into his bathroom and plugged the bathtub then started the water.


	8. Chapter Eight

Frank placed his hand in the running water feeling the temperature. He could see steam rising from the bathtub so he decided to give that a moment to cool down a bit. 

He went into the living room to see that Gerard was in the same exact position he was placed in. Frank walked over into his kitchen and grabbed a chair and brung it into the bathroom. He went back out into the living room and picked the man on the couch up bridal style and carried him into the bathroom placing him on the chair. He momentarily squeezed his eyes shut as he suffered from an internal conflict. He slowly removed the clothes that were clinging to his skin and trying to be wary of an cuts he may or may not have. He did see plenty of bruises however. He couldn't help but wonder where, when, and how he got them. He tried to shake off that awkward feeling he was getting as he took off Gerard's clothes. He noticed how prominent his hip bones and rip cage was once his shirt was removed. 

He finally got to the pants which would make the situation a lot more weird. He rolled the pants down to his calves realizing he forgot to take off his boots.  He took a moment to remove his foot wear and then proceeded to remove the soggy jeans and then went for the underwear. He decided against removing them and thought it would be a better idea to just let him change out of them when he woke up. He picked him back up and placed him in the water slowly. He felt Gerard jerk a bit in his arms but otherwise remained unconscious.

Frank grabbed a rag from the closet and took his body wash from the shower rack squeezing a fair amount onto the rag and placed it besides him on the tub. He dipped the rag into the water letting it soak a bit and then took it out and massaged it together until it got a bit sudsy. He started with Gerard's neck. Immediately seeing the patchy brownish colors revealing a pale skin tone. He made sure to go all around his neck. 

Frank got up and grabbed a cup from near his sink and sat back down near the tub. He filled the cup up with bath water and poured it down Gerard's neck rinsing him off. He could see a small but noticeable difference between his neck and chest already. He must've been homeless for a while for him to have gotten this dirty.

Frank moved onto his chest and torso he got onto his knees to he could get to his back. He felt that the position didn't really work too well so he rolled up on of his pant legs about knee high and put his foot into the water being cautious of where Gerard's leg was. He got down on one knee and leaned Gerard's body onto his shoulder and began to scrub away at all the dirt on his back. He heard Gerard cough into his shoulder startling him a bit. He paused his actions for a second waiting for him to settle down. He felt Gerard shift a bit but then rested again and he quickly got back to work trying to speed up the process. He got his cup and poured water down his back and he began scrubbing at his back again trying to capture everything else. 

The whole process went wash, rinse, repeat and once during the process he had to refill the water. Frank got out his face wash and pushed Gerard's hair of out his face. Frank took a moment to examine his features as they currently were. His cheeks were hollowed in and his lips were chapped. One of his eyes were bruised and his other eye seemed to have a dark ring around it probably from lack of sleep. 

Frank got a different washcloth for his face. He squeezed some of the facial wash onto the rag and soaked it in the water a bit. He gently placed the warm rag onto his face gently wiping all over his face and being gentle on the eyes. He grabbed the cup and poured it over the somewhat soapy area and grabbed a small towel near the wrack on the wall and dried his face. He reached up and grabbed the shampoo/conditioner bottle and set it down besides him. 

He started by pouring water into Gerard hair and then poured the mix of shampoo and conditioner into his hand and began to massage it through his hair. 

Eventually he heard Gerard cough again and next thing he knew he was sitting up. Frank kind of stool still for a moment, "W-Where am I?" He asked hoarsely it sounded like it was mostly to himself. He let out a harsh cough.

"Um," Frank stammered. He saw Gerard jump slightly and snapped his head back. He immediately took in his surroundings gasped when he realized he was naked. He immediately brought his knees to his chest wrapping his arms around them. 

"W-what a-are you d-doing?" He asked nervously, his voice giving off panic letting out another slight cough. Gerard twisted himself around in the bathtub now facing Frank. "Why am I undressed?!" He asked his voice getting louder. "Oh my underwear," he sighed in relief. "C-can you pl-please leave?" He asked. "I'm sorry but please go."

Frank nodded, "Y-yeah, uh sorry."

Frank walked out out of the bathroom closing the door behind him and ran a hand through his hair sighing. He made a kissy sound immediately attracting Sweet Pea's attention when he saw her running up to him. He crouched down and she jumped then Frank caught her and picked up and walked her into the living room he set her down on the floor and removed the towels and sheets off the couch and was threw them into a heap on the floor because the hamper was in the bathroom and the bathroom was currently occupied.

 

Frank grabbed his guitar case from by the door and sat down. He opened one of the smaller compartments where Sweet Pea's things were. "Come here girl," he cooed and patted his lap. She jumped onto the couch wagging her tail excitedly as he grabbed her new collar from the bag. Frank removed her old one placing it to his side and Sweet Pea tilted her head in confusion. He took the old one and put it around her neck, snapping it together making sure it was secure. 

He pulled the toys out of the bag and threw a them on the floor and she immediately jumped to the couple of new toys she had. She grabbed one and ran somewhere around the apartment. Frank grabbed everything else from the bag and went to the kitchen and put it into a drawer where all of her things were. 

A moment later he heard a soft knock near the kitchen and a timid, "Excuse me?" Frank immediately turned around still getting used to the new voice in the house. He saw Gerard with water dripping from his hair and a towel wrapped around his body and he was clutching the fold of the towel to his chest. "I never caught your name." 

"Oh! I'm Frank," Frank chirped blushing slightly, "I'll get your clothes," he said quickly walking past Gerard and into his bed room. He stopped in his tracks and went back to the kitchen where Gerard stood there looking around taking everything in. "Or maybe you could just change in my room," he offered suddenly startling the other man slightly . "Sorry," Frank let out a small laugh. 

"It's fine," Gerard turned around with a bit of a fearful look on his face like Frank would hurt him or something.

"But yeah your clothes are on the dresser in my room," Frank informed. "If something doesn't fit I can try to find you something else.." 

"Okay," Gerard said and began to walk into the hallway, "Oh uh Fr-Frank, where is your room?" He asked. 

Frank laughed and pointed him to the direction of his room that was right at the entry of the hall where they were standing. "I'll give you the 'grand' tour later," Frank said with air quotes. Gerard gave a small smile that made Frank's heart do that weird pulsating feeling. Gerard closed the door to Frank's bedroom door. Frank walked back into his living room and plopped on his couch. 

A moment later he heard Gerard gasp. He immediately got up and knocked on the door, "Are you okay?" He asked peaking inside to find Gerard sitting on his bed playing with a big grin on his face. 

Frank smiled at the sight and Gerard noticed him and immediately apologized, "She startled me," he said, seemingly forgetting everything that worried him once he caught sight of her. "But she's really sweet what's her name?" 

"Sweet Pea," Frank answered. Sweet Pea was in Gerard's lap and he had his hand on her gently petting her with a gentle smile gracing his features. "Do you want any food?" Frank asked. "I don't really know how to cook–but I can order something."

He saw Gerard's eyes light up and Frank immediately had all of his attention, "Yes that would be great if that's okay with you." He took a moment to cough into his shoulder. 

"I'm getting a bit hungry as well," Frank said and pulled his phone out and called Pizza Hut. "Do you want anything specific on your pizza?" Frank asked while it was still on the dialing tone. Gerard shook his head. The line finally picked up and Frank placed his order, "I got cheese pizza," Frank said.

"Sounds good, can you explain to me what's going on?" Gerard asked.

Frank nodded, "Let's go into the living room." They both took a seat on the couch the silence slightly awkward. "Well, I saw you on the ground when I was coming home from my parents house," he explained. "Merry Christmas, by the way." Gerard smiled a bit at him in response. "And I tried to wake you up but you didn't so I took you here, and if you want you can live here for a while until you get back on your feet. I swear I have no ill intentions, I just want to help," Frank said, holding his hands up as a gesture for being harmless.

"Really?" He asked seeming a bit shocked. He could tell Frank was being honest but he was shocked that actually wanted to help him. Frank didn't know him, he didn't know Frank.

Frank nodded, "And besides, I wouldn't mind some company.. Even if it is a stranger." Gerard couldn't help but laugh a bit, but that end him in a bit of a coughing fit.

"Are you really sure?" He asked, not really understanding how Frank doesn't mind a stranger being in his home. He would've been against the idea immediately. 

"I know it's weird, but I just really couldn't stand to see you out there like that, I don't know why," he responded. "But honestly, I want you to stay, it'll honestly make me feel a lot better than knowing that you're struggling out there now that I've actually talked to you and what not," he explained. "And I feel like I owe you it at least."

"Why?"

"My friends.. they were the ones who took your sketchbook and I have it," he explained. "And I feel so awful about it and just please take my offer."

"Okay.." Gerard said hesitantly. "Uh, where's my sketchbook?" He asked. 

"In the kitchen," he responded. "You want me to grab it for you?"

He shook his head, "I just wanted to know where it was."

For a while they were silent. It was slightly awkward and Gerard was messing around with his hair giving his hands something to do. He really needed a hair cut. Or trimmed for that matter. "Um do you have any scissors I can use?" He asked shyly.

 

"Uh yeah," Frank responded as he got up to go to the kitchen for the scissors. He opened up a drawer grabbing the scissors and handed them to Gerard. "Here ya go."

"Thank you Frank," he responded with a gentle smile that made Frank's cheeks turn pink. "I just really want to cut my hair," he said gently pulling on some strands. 

"I can help you if you want," Frank offered. 

"Um well-" Gerard hesitated for a moment, contemplating whether he should take him up on his offer or not. He seemed adamant on helping him in any way shape or form so he decided to go with it. "Yes please," he said. Frank smiled and walked into the bathroom with Gerard trailing behind him a few steps, he still wasn't feeling up to par with walking especially now that he was sick. 

"One second," Frank said going turning back towards the living room then into the kitchen. He grabbed a chair from the dining table bringing it into the bathroom. He placed it in the middle of the floor then gently pushed Gerard into the direction of the seat. "Sit, sit," Frank said horribly imitating some sort of foreign accent. He was trying to get himself a little more comfortable with the new person in his home. Gerard giggled and didn't hesitate to take a seat before he fell over, "I'll be taking those from you now," he took the scissors from him placing them on the counter. "How much do you want cut?" Frank asked. 

"All of it." Gerard responded sounding dead serious. He was trying to contain the laughter that was bubbling at the pit of his stomach because of the silence that the room was suddenly engulfed in. After a while Gerard just burst into a fit of giggles, "I'm just kidding."

"Oh I was about to say," Frank laughed. "Time to get out the clippers."

Gerard nodded sarcastically, "But only to the where the white tips are gone."

Frank nodded hoping he didn't screw up. He styled his own hair and he likes it so maybe styling someone else's wouldn't be too hard. 

He hummed to himself thinking of how to start this. He looked through his cabinet grabbing a comb– he heard the door bell ring with Sweet Pea's barks followed shortly after.

"Ahh, one second," Frank said jogging to the door and hushing Sweet Pea on his way. He opened the door to be greeted by the pizza man. He completely forgot he ordered a pizza. 

"Your total will be twenty five dollars sir," he said.

"Thank you," Frank said digging through his pocket for his wallet. He grabbed a twenty and a ten out of his wallet and handed it to the man. "Keep the change."

"Have a good night sir," he said giving the pizza over to Frank. 

"You too," Frank called as the man began walking down the halls. "Gerard the food is here." 

Frank walked into the kitchen and placed the pizza on the counter. Gerard was in the kitchen a few moments later and he took a seat at the table looking sort of out of place as he stared at the box longingly with his hands in his lap. "Help yourself." Frank placed two plates onto the table and took a seat himself. 

Gerard didn't hesitate to open up the box and grab himself a slice of pizza his stomach rumbling a bit at the smell. He immediately bit into the pizza, metaphorically melting into his chair. He hummed happily while munching on the slice of pizza as though it were going to run away. 

"Slow down honey, I don't want you choking now," Frank laughed. Gerard blushed but giggled slightly and tried to slow down his pace a bit but he was so hungry he couldn't help it. He only managed to get through a littler over half of the pizza before he started to feel sick. He put the pizza down hunching himself over, clutching his stomach. He covered his mouth as he felt himself hiccup. "Are you okay?" Frank asked, getting ready to get up.

He nodded and held a finger up telling him to wait. Eventually he managed to settle his stomach down and he sat back up, "Sorry.." He apologized. "I just need to readjust to, y'know food."

Frank nodded in understanding, "Do you want anymore?" Gerard immediately shook his head, apologizing again. "Don't apologize," he said, he took himself a slice of pizza, "We can just save it." Gerard nodded and thanked him. 

\--

"Do you think we could cut my hair tomorrow?" Gerard asked sitting up. "I'm kinda out of this now," he laughed his cheeks slightly pink and eyes happy, tired, but happy.

Frank nodded, "For sure, you can take my bed for tonight." 

"No you don't have to do that," Gerard said feeling that Frank has already done enough. He let out a few loud coughs that made Frank jump, "Sorry," he rasped.

Frank laughed it off, "But honestly you probably need my bed more than me right now, you're sick and I'm fine." 

"But–"

"How 'bout just for tonight?" He bargained pulling off the most pitiful face he could.

Gerard sighed in defeat wonder by he was so insistent on letting him take his bed. "Fine." 

Frank smiled triumphantly. "Would you like any NyQuil? And maybe some ice for your eye?" 

Gerard nodded, "Yeah." Frank put his pizza down on the plate and went to his bathroom looking through his medicine cabinets for the NyQuil, then when to the kitchen and grabbed a zip-lock bag and filled it with ice and wrapped it in a paper towel.

He went back into the living room taking in the middle of the floor filling the dose cup with the liquid. "Here you go," Frank said handing it over to Gerard. 

He smiled thanking him and took the medicine down in one swig cringing at the taste. He held the ice bag to his eye He went to the sink to rinse out the cup and gave it back to Frank who screwed the cap onto the NyQuil and put the dose cup over it setting it onto the counter. "Well I'm gonna go to bed now," Gerard said. "Thank you for.. Everything."

Frank smiled, "I'm probably gonna be in there soon to uh, get some clothes and change." 

Gerard nodded, "Goodnight Frank."

"'Night Gerard."


	9. Chapter Nine

Gerard woke up feeling more comfortable than he has in years. He smiled to himself and flailed his arms out besides him to stretch. 

"Oh good morning, you look happy," he heard Frank say looking back at Gerard with a small smile as well. Frank went back to doing whatever he was doing near his drawer. 

Gerard sat up not really wanting to get out of bed. It was so comfortable and warm he hasn't felt that in a while. "Do you want to cut your hair now?"

"No, not really." Gerard admitted shamefully, not really wanting to explain why. He really didn't feel like he walk today, he felt so weak. He could move his legs, bit took a lot  
of strength. 

"Why not?" Frank asked with a slightly confused smile. 

"I uh, I don't think I'd be able to stand.." He admitted. 

"Oh..." Frank responded with a slight frown, and a concerned expression etching onto his features. "I can bring you in something to eat, and you can rest for as long as you need." 

Once again, at the mention of food, Gerard's eyes seemed to light up. "Yeah," he responded.

"I have some oatmeal I can bring in, you want that?" He asked.

Gerard nodded, resting back on the pillow a bit. 

"All I have is maple and brown sugar if you don't mind?"

"I don't mind," he responded. 

Frank nodded and walked into the kitchen. He a moment of realization that his lack of weight and muscle was why it was difficult for him to get up. It made him feel so much more worst for the guy. He hoped he could get him back to a healthy weight quickly. He was sure he'd be able to start walking again as soon as he shook this flu off. If not he knew he would have to take him to the hospital. 

He grabbed a packet of oatmeal, hoping Gerard would be able to get it down. He put a cup of water in the microwave and let it heat up for a while before he took it out and began preparing the oatmeal. Once he finished it, he grabbed a spoon and brought it to his room and handed it to Gerard. He left him in the room by himself for a moment before he went into the living room to call his job. He wanted to try to get a few a week off. He called them and told him that he had to take care of his mom who just got sick. His boss didn't hesitate to give him a week off and Frank thanked him profusely. He went back into the room smiling once he noticed the empty bowl on his nightstand. Gerard smiled at him, looking a bit proud of himself. "Do you want some more?" 

Gerard looked like he was thinking for a moment before he nodded. Frank smiled bigger. "Can I also have a cup of water?" He asked.

"Yeah, totally," Frank responded. He went ahead and grabbed his bowl. He went back into the kitchen and poured another pack of oatmeal into the bowl and heated up another cup, going through the process again. Once he was done with that he poured him a glass of cold water from the pitcher in his fridge. He served the food to Gerard, receiving a thank you in response. "How did you sleep?" Frank asked as Gerard was eating. He placed his glass of water onto the nightstand and took a seat at the foot of his bed.

"Good," he responded, eating a spoonful of his oatmeal. "Your bed is really comfortable."

"Thanks," he responded. They got into a small conversation getting to know things about each other, like their birthdays, which part of Jersey they were born in and things like that. They found that they both were born and raised here in Belleville. Eventually Frank found that Gerard was really funny and sweet. And very apologetic as well. He was constantly apologizing for not being able to get up and maybe when he thought he had offended Frank when he cracked a joke or two. But he would always assure him that it was fine. 

Gerard finished his second bowl, seeming quite proud of himself, proclaiming that he had defeated the mighty oatmeal. Twice. Frank laughed and congratulated him. He drank his water and sat it on the nightstand. He hiccuped, feeling a bit of vomit trying to release itself, but he managed to keep it down once again thankfully. 

\--

After a few days Gerard was back on his feet and his black eye wasn't so dark anymore. Frank came into the room finding Gerard already sat up and sitting on the edge of the bed. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah a lot better," he responded. 

"Enough so that we can cut your hair?"

"Yeah," Gerard laughed. He gingerly pressed his toes to the ground, feeling that the floor was surprisingly warm. He stood up, and his first few footsteps felt a bit wobbly like they normally would be when he first wakes up. 

"Ready?" Frank asked making his way to the door of his room. "By the way I'm not a professional barber or anything so please don't expect anything spectacular," he said laughing awkwardly putting a hand through his own hair that was a bit tussled and messy. 

"I just want these parts trimmed," he reminded him, and gently tugged on the strands. "So simple is fine." Frank nodded and went to the bathroom with Gerard following closely behind. Sweet Pea immediately caught sight of the two and messed with both of their feet. 

"Stop it!" Frank giggled gently pushing her to the side with his foot. He opened the bathroom door and led Gerard inside. "Have a seat–I was wondering why we were a chair short this morning." He chuckled remembering that he never took the other chair out yesterday. Gerard smiled and sat down.

Frank went through his cabinet to get a brush and comb. He brushed Gerard's hair out to make it a bit more near. He used the comb to measure where he was going to cut and prayed to whatever higher being there was that he didn't screw his hair up. 

\--

"Okay.. I think I'm done," Frank said, he didn't too bad of a job. He went ahead and styled it a bit for Gerard and it didn't turn out too bad at all. The ends of his hair were still a bit lighter but Frank thought it looked better with those slightly lighter bits. 

Gerard got up checking into the mirror, once he caught sight of himself he grinned widely. "I love it," he said still examining himself. 

Frank blushed a bit, "Thank you."

"No–thank you," he said turning back to Frank with a big smile almost tempted to bear hug him for everything he's done for him. He put his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants to keep him from doing anything that would probably cross a personal boundary. 

But he kept smiling which earned him a smile from Frank and the two of them ended up grinning like idiots in the middle of the bathroom. Frank let out an awkward laugh breaking the silence that was more... intimate than it was awkward, Frank cleared his throat, "Want some cereal?" 

"Yes, please," he responded already going to the kitchen with a bit of a bounce in his step. "Uh Frank, where is the cereal?" Gerard called from the kitchen as Frank was making his way out of the hallway. 

Once he was inside of the kitchen he opened up one of the cabinets revealing his small variety of cereals he had stored. "So as you can see through my wide selection of cereals, which would you like?" 

Gerard hummed contemplating which one of the three cereals he wanted. "Oh shit I almost forgot," Frank began when he saw his sketchbook. He grabbed Gerard's sketchbook from the counter. "Here," he said handing him his sketchbook.

Gerard grinned as though he was handed a gift from God. This calls for a hug, he thought. So that's what he did, he hugged Frank as tightly as he could making the other man gasp in surprise. "Thank you so much!" He exclaimed resting his head on Frank's shoulder. 

Frank chuckled awkwardly feeling his cheeks warm up slightly, "No problem."

He pulled away from the short lasting hug and Gerard timidly apologized but his sketchbook was like... his baby. He knows he hasn't really draw much with it but he has a deep connection with creativity and that sketchbook was the only way he could express it at that point so he pretty much grew attached to it as soon as he got his hands on it.

The sketchbook wasn't expensive or didn't have any extra perks with it. It was his and that was enough for him to want to guard it with his life. That was the only way he would be able to get his mind off of the stressful points of life which was almost all the time for him unfortunately but even as a homeless man, some days were better than others and that day when he lost his sketchbook, it was pretty terrible. 

And with that being said, Gerard thought a hug would be the perfect thank you. 

But it was understandable if Frank didn't feel the same way, maybe he didn't like art as much as he did. Or maybe Gerard was too much of a stranger for him to feel comfortable with that hug. "It's okay," Frank giggled running a hand through his hair. His cheeks were pink and he had shy smile on his lips. 

"I'm just.. Really happy to have it back.." Gerard had the sketchbook hugged to his chest as though he were afraid somewhere would try to steal it again. After a while, he put it back on the counter and continue to look through the cereal and settled on the lucky charms.

"Yeah, if someone took my guitar.." Frank said in a mock threatening tone. He laughed a moment later. "Lucky charms is my favorite," Frank said. He went to his dish wrack and grabbed two bowls and spoons.

He put them on the table and Gerard helped himself to the fridge and grabbed the milk. Gerard saw that Frank poured the cereal into the bowls so all that was left was to pour the milk in which Gerard did a moment later. 

\--

Gerard managed to get two bowls of cereal. He found that the slower he ate, the more he could get down without feeling sick so quickly. He felt an uncomfortably full but he was glad nothing came up. "I ate too much," he complained.

Frank smiled shaking his head, "I want you to eat as much as you can. I've made it my personal duty to fatten you up a bit." He saw Gerard grin, his eyes crinkling at the corners a bit. "Do you want to watch a movie?" Gerard finally brought himself to get up, he nodded and grabbed his sketchbook of the counter and ran his thumb along the spine of the book. Frank could see the longing look in his eyes. He laughed, "Or would you rather accompany on the couch as I watch a movie." 

"Y'know that actually sounds great," Gerard said with a small giggle. He walked into the living room plopping himself onto the couch with his sketchbook. "Wait-" he thought for a moment. How was he gonna draw without pencils? "Do you have any pencils I can borrow?"

"I'm sure I've got some around here.." Frank said thoughtfully. He went into his bedroom checking all of his cabinets in search of a pencil. 

He found one in an old school back that he thought he would come in handy at one point or another. Apparently he didn't clear it out well enough, but it's a good thing in this case. Frank let out a triumphant, "Aha!" Then brought the pencil out into the living room where Gerard sat. "Through this search I've learned that I should invest in more writing material." 

Gerard laughed graciously taking the pencil from his hands. "Thank you," he smiled. He immediately opened his book and tore out the page with Frank's Jack Skellington drawing. "Here," he offered, extending his arm to give the paper to Frank. 

"Oh thank you," Frank said with a surprised tone in his voice, he almost forgot about that. He took the picture into his room grabbing the scotch tape and set it down on his dresser as he contemplated where he wanted to hang it. 

First he ripped off that annoying torn up piece that came from the spiral part of the sketchbook. Frank took two pieces of tape, sticking them on his forearm and stepped on his bed. He eyed the wall trying to decided where the center of his bed was he decided to wing it and just try his best to center it. 

He placed the picture on the wall using the tape to paste down the top and bottom ends of the picture. He stepped down and walked in front of the foot of the bed deciding that where it was placed was good enough for him. 

He walked back into the living room already knowing which movie he wanted to watch. The Nightmare Before Christmas. He didn't get the chance to watch it like he usually did on Christmas day but it's better late than never, and besides, who said watching The Nightmare Before Christmas had to be watched on a certain day? 

He walked pass the couch seeing Gerard happily sketching away in the book. From this distance Frank couldn't really tell what it was but considering how good the Jack Skellington picture came out, he assumed it was going to be something great. He walked to his collection of DVDs and looked for where he last placed The Nightmare Before Christmas. He grabbed the movie wiping off the dust that it managed to collect and took the disk out of the case. He popped the disk into his DVD player and turned on the tv, "Are you okay with the lights going out?" He didn't get a response from Gerard seeing that he was so absorbed into his art. "Gerard?" Frank asked again seeing the man's head pop up. Frank giggled, "Are you okay with the lights going out?"

Gerard nodded, "Yeah," he said immediately going back to his work. Frank smiled shaking his head fondly and turned the lights out. He sat down on the couch hearing the familiar sound of the Narrator explaining the setting the story was going to be told in then, the song This Is Halloween began to play. Frank saw Gerard tapping his foot to the rhythm from the corner of his eye, he could also hear him quietly singing along to the song. 

\--

Frank could feel himself dozing off around the point where Lock, Shock, and Barrel were singing about kidnapping Santa Claus or Sandy Claws for that matter. And his dozing off reminded him of why he hasn't remembered the entire movie word for word yet; he hasn't been able to stay awake to see the full thing for quite some time now. 

Gerard closed his sketchbook after examining what he drew first, it was a cartoonish version of Frank's face. He put his signature on it along with the date, he had plans to give it to him later. He saw that Frank fell asleep. He slowly got up from his spot on the couch, proud to say that he felt a bit stronger than usual. He went into Frank's room to take one of the smaller blankets off of his bed. He took it into the living room with him and threw it over Frank's body then sat back down on the couch and continued to watch the rest of the movie.


	10. Chapter Ten

It's been nearly two months since Gerard's been staying here. Since then, his cheeks had gotten a bit fuller and his ribs and hips weren't so prominent anymore. Frank was beginning to notice how good looking he was. He didn't have dark rings around his eyes anymore, you could still tell he was thin by just looking at him. But Frank could tell he'd be very pretty if he gained more weight. Gerard was a lot stronger now too. He didn't get dizzy spells anymore, he didn't need to take breaks if he was walking for long periods of time, and he could definitely eat more. A lot more. Some days he would over step how much he ate and probably vomit, but usually he was fine. After his while of living here he has been taking advantage of the food as much as he could after Frank insisted that it was fine. Frank wanted him to get to a healthy weight as quickly as he could. 

The two of them had also gotten quite a bit closer since then. They were like two peas in a pod, connected at the hip. They found that they had so many common interest music wise along with plenty of other things, like books, television shows, general opinions. 

As soon as Gerard mentioned Black Flag, Frank damn near shrieked because that was his favorite band - he even had a tattoo of their logo on his bicep. "Where have you been all my life?!" Frank laughed immediately pulling up his t-shirt sleeve to show off his tattoo of their logo. "Black Flag is my favorite band of all time." 

"Woah, that awesome," Gerard said gazing at the black flag tattoo along with all of the other art around it almost tempted to touch it. He had his hands kind of hovering over it as he gawked at how many tattoos had on this one arm alone. "I would love to get tattoos but I'm afraid of needles," he explained.

"I think you would look great with tattoos," Frank complimented rolling his sleeve down.

Gerard smiled, "Maybe one day I'll get one."

"I'd be right by your side–for moral support," Frank laughed. 

Frank and Gerard might have been close but they didn't really know much about who the other was, what was their life like and for Frank personally, he wanted to know exactly how Gerard went homeless. Did he run away? Was he kicked out? But he didn't know if it was appropriate to ask that type question just yet. "Whatcha' thinking about?" Gerard asked with a kind smile that seemed to be permanent ever since he began rooming with him. 

"Nothing really," Frank shrugged. "How old are you if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm twenty," he responded.

He nodded taking in the information, "Me too," he smiled. 

They spent a lot of the day getting to know the smaller things about each other, for Frank it felt like he was walking on ice. He had plenty of questions that probably wasn't very appropriate to ask for the amount of time they've known each other. He was constantly running out of things to say because he constantly had it on his mind. 

"Hey are you okay?" Gerard asked after a while when Frank phased out. 

"Yeah I'm okay," He laughed rubbing the back of his head. "Just a little bit tired."

He laughed, "Ah, I see," he looked over to the clock seeing that it was twelve o' clock in the morning. "It is getting pretty late, huh?" Frank nodded with a smile, and began laying on the floor. "Hey what are you doing?!" Gerard asked feigning a scolding tone, laughing a moment later, "You sleep in your room."

"Just for tonight," Frank whined. 

"You said that yesterday," the other man pointed out. "Along with yesterday, and the night before that." 

He sighed, "But I like talking to you at night, the company is nice," Frank could see the pinkish tint gently gracing Gerard's face with a small smile. He knew he was going to be able to sleep in here again. He grinned as Gerard gave in.

"Fine," he laughed. Gerard got up, "I'll go grab some covers and pillows from your room," he said. "Then you can help me lay out the covers." Frank nodded and watched as Gerard made his way to his room. It made Frank happy that Gerard now knew the layout of the house like it was his own. Frank got up from the floor when Gerard came back out, he threw all the covers onto the couch in a heap the two of them made a combined effort to move the coffee table out of the way placing it near the counters that led into the kitchen. 

They laid the thickest cover onto to the floor and they both had a cover to themselves along with another cover that was fair game. They each took a pillow throwing it onto whatever side they claimed. 

Frank laid down with Sweet Pea immediately jumping onto his chest licking at his face and nipping at his hair, "No," he scolded laughing.  He had to repeat that a few more times in a stern tone before she finally trotted back to her little bed and curled into herself and closed her eyes.

A moment later the lights were out and Gerard was about a foot away from him laying down. He put his covers on then turned towards Frank, "Hello," he said with a goofy smile. 

"Hi," He responded with a small giggle. The room was almost completely pitch black, it was bright enough to navigate around open spaces. Frank could still kind of see Gerard's face and see that small piece of hair that was in his face that he desperately wanted to move out of his face. "I need to get my sleep schedule together, it's taking a toll on how I feel during work." 

"Yeah," Gerard laughed looking at the time, "You've been having like two hours of sleep at most, see this is why you should sleep in your own bed," he said jokingly.

Frank pulled his best pitiful face, "Do you not like talking with me at night?"

"No, no it's not like that!" He said defensively.

"I'm kidding," Frank laughed.

"Oh," he responded letting out a small giggle.

"But it's true though, I probably should start going to sleep in my own bed," he said. "You're influencing me to stay up late." 

"Pff, no," Gerard responded. "I tried to tell you to go to your bed but you insisted to sleep here so you could talk with me."

"Well excuse me for enjoying your company a lot," he huffed. "But since I started working again I can't talk to you all day anymore." Gerard felt his heart flutter a bit. "So I'm making up for it with late night talks." Frank could see Gerard's face turn up into a grin. "Hey, I have a question I hope you don't mind me asking." It wasn't one of the questions he really wanted to ask. It wasn't as personal as asking how did he end up homeless.

"Go for it," Gerard responded propping himself up on one elbow.

"So what was it like being homeless?"

Gerard was quiet for a moment, it wasn't tense or anything, he was just trying to piece his thoughts together. "Well it certainly wasn't what I expected," he said. "It was scary.. I think it was the night after I met you, I was jumped while I was sleeping. They stole the jacket I just bought," he explained. "But I wasn't awake for the whole process of them taking the jacket off."

"How?" Frank asked with a saddened and shocked tone to his voice. 

"They knocked me out first," he explained. "The rest of the money I had was stolen as well," he took a moment to remember other bad experiences he had while homeless. "Oh! I remember the first time I was in a homeless shelter..." He started, he still had a bit of a tough time talking about it. "Uh well to put it simply- ahh, sorry it just still gets to me thinking about it." Gerard sat up and took a moment to calm his breathing down. It gives him a panicky feeling just thinking about it. He breaths became a bit shallow.

Frank sat up with him wrapping an arm around his shoulder, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"Yeah sorry," Gerard sighed. He sniffled and wiped his eyes of the tears that were forming. "Yeah maybe we can talk about it another time, I'm sorry."

Frank nodded sympathetically, "There's no reason to apologize," he said. He leaned his head on Gerard's shoulder in a way that he hoped would be comforting only to be reassured when Gerard's head was resting on top of his. He could still hear that his breathing hasn't quite gotten to normal, it was still a bit heavy. Whatever happened to him in that homeless shelter must've been really bad if it effects him that much. It made Frank even more curious, but at the same time he wasn't completely sure if he wanted to know what happened. 

"H-Hey let's just go to bed," Gerard suggested his voice sounding a bit weak. Frank's face was concerned and watching Gerard's every move as he laid down. He laid down with him. "Just thinking about it, I just want to say thank you for everything you've done for me."

"It's no big deal really, I like your company." 

"I'm just really glad that I don't have any reason to sleep in a homeless shelter anymore," he explained. 

"Me too," Frank responded. "Good night, Gee."

Gerard smiled, "Goodnight, Frankie." 

\--

Gerard woke up in the living room with Sweet Pea by his side. He got up and searched around the house for Frank checking if he went to work already or not. "Frankie?" He called not getting a response. Gerard took a step back almost tripping over Sweet Pea who was following him like she was his shadow. 

Gerard picked up the covers shaking it off then folding it neatly the set it on the couch. Sweet Pea kept running around his legs as he folded the covers and occasionally tried to bite the covers. "Aw, you want to help?" He laughed crouching down to pet her. She licked his hand. 

After a while of playing with Sweet Pea he finally got back to the covers. He left a couple on the couch for him to use later and brought the rest to Frank's room and made his bed up. 

He went back into the living room deciding to leave the coffee table where it was and went into the kitchen. He filled up Sweet Pea's food and water bowl. He looked through the fridge to see what they had or needed in this case, it didn't seem like Frank was too consistent with grocery shopping. Maybe Frank would let him go grocery shopping tomorrow. Gerard wasn't a too bad of a cook himself. He could make some kick-ass pancakes if he wanted. 

Gerard looked through Frank's pantry to find that he did have some Pancake mix and some syrup. He grabbed the bag and looked through more cabinets to find a mixing bowl and a whisk or spoon.

He whipped himself up a quick batch of pancakes and began to cook them. He could hear Sweet Pea noisily chewing next to him while looking up at him trying to see what he was making. He smiled down at her watching as she went back and forth between her food and him. 

Gerard's day went through by cleaning the house, playing with Sweet Pea, and drawing for a while - Frank's wall was slowly being filled up with more and more pictures Gerard drew. Frank recently brought him back some pencils and colored pencils so Gerard indulged himself in that a lot more. Sweet Pea was sat right by him sleeping right next to him. She was probably a bit worn down, they ran around the house a lot today.

He was currently drawing and waiting for Frank to come home, he was getting a bit bored. He still had a good hour to wait and not much to do until then. He decided to just do what Sweet Pea was doing and took a nap right besides her. 

\--

Frank walked into his house to see Gerard and Sweet Pea snuggled up together on the couch. He walked over to them and poked Gerard's forehead, "Gee?" He cooed softly. He nudged his shoulder a bit. "Gee.." he said drawing his name out. His hazel eyes fluttered open at the sound of Frank's voice and Sweet Pea was already whining for attention. 

"Oh hey," Gerard greeted, his voice hoarse from sleep. "Sorry I got a bit bored and decided to take a nap." 

"It's no problem," Frank reassured. 

Gerard sat up to give Frank some room on the couch to sit. "How was work?" He asked when Frank plopped down on the couch with a content sigh.

"I got promoted to manager today," Frank said with a big smile.

"Oh dude, congratulations!" Gerard smiled patting him on the back. 

"Thanks," Frank had a small grin on his face and his eyes were close, "Damn, I'm tired."

"Oh and by any chance can I go grocery shopping tomorrow?"

"Oh convenient timing," Frank said immediately sitting up and digging into his coat pocket, "I got you a key."

Gerard grinned, "Thank you!" Frank handed a plain golden key to Gerard.

"And yeah, grocery shopping sounds good, I'm getting tired of take out and left overs and I smell pancakes so I'm assuming you can cook," Frank laughed. 

"Little bit," he shrugged. "We can have that for dinner too."

"Sounds good," Frank said. "I'm gonna go change and hopefully I'll be a little less tired."

"You should go to bed early tonight," He responded, getting up and walking into the kitchen. 

"I know.. But I like talking to you it's like-it's like we have different time zones."

Gerard laughed feeling his cheeks get warm. He got the mixing bowl out and made more pancakes.

\--

"Bon appetite," Gerard said presenting Frank with a plate of pancakes as he sat down at the table. "With a side of syrup," he said as he placed the bottle on the table. 

"Why, thank you."

The two of them ate in a comfortable silence. Frank was too tired to make any conversation he was just happy to at least be in Gerard's presence, some customers at were assholes and just down right unreasonable so he was a bit irritated but he was happy that he got promoted. But today it seemed like today everyone was calling for the manager which happened to be Frank. 

By the time Frank finished his food he did end up telling Gerard a more in depth summary of his work day, one thing he liked about Gerard was that he was a good listener, anything Frank said seemed to be of interest to him. He nodded at the right moments and added his own opinions to whatever Frank said. Gerard even managed to help Frank be a little less pissed off about the bad points of his day by kind of trying to put sense into whatever the customer did that Frank thought was unreasonable. 

\--

Frank was out like a light by nine thirty. Gerard cleaned all the dished before he got himself a spot prepared on the bed to sleep. Frank told him he would leave money on the counter before he left, he also said he was going to be home a little bit late, he was going to visit his friends for a bit. He offered Gerard to come but he declined because he didn't think he was quite ready to meet the same guys who stole his sketchbook. He knew he had it back and all and that they apologized but he just still sort of had some irrational fear of those guys. 

Gerard turned out the lights and laid on the couch and went to sleep.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Gerard woke up to find that Frank was still home and in the process of getting himself ready for work. "Oh good morning," Frank said when he turned around to find Gerard sat up and awake. He cleared his throat and gave him a hoarse morning greeting back. "Well since you're awake I can give you this before I go," he said, pulling a couple of hundred dollars out of his pocket. "This is for the groceries and basically anything else that may catch your eye," Frank said with a smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He put the money in Gerard's hand and adjusted his jacket. "Well I gotta go now," he said giving Gerard a friendly tap on the shoulder.

"Have a good day!" He called as Frank went out the door. Sweet Pea whined for a few moments before she decided to hop onto the couch and on Gerard's lap. He stroked her fur for a little while, trying to motive himself go actually get up and do some cleaning.

He finally got up and folded his covers, he washed a few dishes and took himself a shower. He fixed his hair up a bit, getting himself prepared to go to the store. 

Gerard went into Frank's room and grabbed some of his clothes, he noticed that his body was starting to fill out his clothes a bit more than they did when he first came. He knew eventually he'd have to find some way to get some new clothes that'd would fit him better because he knew that before he was homeless he had some love handles on him and his figure wasn't as scrawny as it is now. He was already a big fan of clothes that kind of hugged his figure–he had a more androgynous look to him. He liked a good mixture of masculinity and femininity, but for now he'd have to work with what he had and it was a black t-shirt and some jeans, of course with a jacket.

He just threw on the rain boots he got because he knew those were a good fit, but he wasn't really so sure about Frank's shoes, he was a pretty small guy to he was sure that the shoes would reflect that.

He walked to the front door with Sweet Pea trailing right behind him. Gerard crouched down to her and gently pet her head, "I promise, when it gets warmer out daddy will take you walking everyday," he vowed. He stood back up and opened the door, making sure Sweet Pea kept her distance. He closed the door behind him and locked it. Sweet Pea's whining noises made his heart break a bit as he left out the door.

He walked out the apartment complex, feeling the now, unfamiliar cold winter wind hit his face. He shrugged himself further into his jacket, shivering slightly. 

He walked down the streets looking for some sort of grocery store to shop at. He found a super market and went inside, he grabbed himself a shopping cart and went along the isles to see what they really needed. He decided on getting a bunch of easy made items like pop tarts, cereal, ramen, etcetera. 

He continued going down the isles and looks for actual foods, he wasn't quite sure what to make for dinner that night. He continued to shop and decided to just make something out of whatever he bought. He got some fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, and any other thing he thought he may needed. 

He waited in line, finally feeling like he belonged with everyone else for the first time in years. He didn't get any weird stares, people didn't look as though they pitied him, and he wasn't getting any change randomly thrown at him. He felt a small smile form on his lips and he stared down at his shoes as he waited in line. 

His items were rung up and it came up to one hundred and thirty eight dollars, he still had a couple hundred dollars on him. He contemplated doing some more shopping but he already had enough bags, maybe after he takes them home he might go out again. 

He lugged the bags home thanking a higher being that they didn't live too far from the super market. 

He was finally home and he put the bags down by his side with a small grunt. As soon as his key got into the lock he heard Sweet Pea barking and whining from the other side. He opened the door and shooed her away as he picked up the bags and dragged them in. He closed the door behind him and crouched down to greet Sweet Pea. "Hey girl," he picked her up and hugged her. She began to frantically lick all over his neck and face. Gerard's face was scrunched up and he had a small grin on his face. "Okay," he laughed, putting her down. He got the bags and brung them to the kitchen two by two.

He placed everything where ever they needed to be, still clueless of what he should make for dinner. He still had a couple of hours to spare before Frank got home anyways.

Everything was put away and Gerard let himself flop onto the couch, sighing in content. He contemplated going out again and maybe finding some clothes that would fit him better, plus he knew he was gaining weight so it'd be good to be prepared for that as well.

He settled for cleaning up some first and then seeing how he felt after that. He folded up the covers that he used the night before and laid them down on the arm rest of the couch. He swept the living room after that and washed the dishes, just doing the basic household chores. 

He didn't really have much to do during his day besides play with Sweet Pea and draw, that was cool and all but now he's glad he can go outside without leaving the door unlocked or something. Maybe when he went out for his second trip he would go looking for jobs too. 

\--

"Time for round two," he mutter to himself, finally forcing himself off the couch. He said goodbye to Sweet Pea, basically getting the same response as he did on his first trip; a lot of whining and barking. He walked down the hall of the apartment and was met with the a gust of cold wind once again.

He checked his pockets to make sure he had everything needed. Gerard walked into the downtown area, searching for stores that caught his eye. He saw a store, not really paying attention to the name but it had a lot of black clothing and that immediately peaked his interest. He walked into the store hearing the bell ring above him. The cashier greeted him with a smile. Gerard smiled back and strolled into the store, checking out their display mannequins, some of the outfits putting him in mind of what he would wear himself before he went homeless. Lots of leather clothing, skinny jeans some with holes, others virtually ripped to shreds, boots. Just very dramatic, androgynous, and dark. 

He looked through the selections in the racks and shelves of the store finding that the prices weren't too bad and he could get himself an outfit or two, depended what the prices came up to. He thought it would probably be best to shop in the size he wore before he went homeless because at the rate he was going currently, it wouldn't be too long until he got there. He wasn't too too much bigger, but the size difference was definitely noticeable. 

He found a few things he liked, actually a lot of things he liked. He kept coming back to look at the mannequins outfits, really taking an interest in what it was wearing. 

One of the employees eventually came up to him and asked if he needed any assistance. "Um.." Gerard did a quick double take of the store, looking for what he wanted to wear. "I want what that guy's shirt and jacket," he said pointing to one of the mannequins, "And the other mannequins pants," referring to the one that was clearly more designed for females. 

"Uh, okay, follow me," the guy said walking towards the clothes. He showed him with the leather jacket and shirt the guy mannequin was wearing and slapped his hand on top of the pile of pants the girl mannequin was wearing. He got his clothes a few sizes larger than what he currently was. He looked through the store for a little while longer and found a pair of boots and a belt he liked. The price of the boots were pretty high so it'd be pretty risky to try and go for another outfit."Are you sure this is the size you want?" He asked looking Gerard up and down.

"Yeah," he responded immediately. 

He took what he had and went to the cash register, thankful he was only person in the store. His total came to somewhere around one hundred and fifty dollars–the jacket and the boots were the majority of the money. He thanked the cashier and left the store.

\--

He was finally home, being greeted by Sweet Pea once again, "Hey girl," he greeted. He went into Frank's room and put his bag in his closet. Gerard took of his jacket and hung it back up  in the closet.

He went into the kitchen seeing that Sweet Pea's bowl was empty, "Oh shit, I bet you're so hungry aren't you?" He cooed to Sweet Pea who was eagerly waiting besides him. He went into the cabinet getting Sweet Pea's food and filled up her bowl, "I'm so sorry, I totally forgot." He filled her other bowl with water. "I'm so terrible," he scolded himself. Sweet Pea happily ate her food and Gerard looked through the freezer, seeing what he could make for dinner that night. He pulled out the pack of steak and decided he was just gonna make steak and salad for the two of them.

The steak wasn't really frozen as it was put into the freezer not too long ago. He washed his hands then grabbed a bowl out the cupboard and opened the packet of steak and put two in the bowl. He grabbed a zip lock bag to put the packet in and threw the rest back into the freezer.

He seasoned it and decided to let it marinade for a little while, he still had quite a few hours until Frank came home. He washed his hands again then walked around the house to see if there was anything to clean up. He didn't really have much to do. He flopped onto the couch, not really sure what to do. 

He didn't really feel like drawing at the moment, he just really wanted company. Frank was working, Sweet Pea passed out after she finished her entire bowl, he didn't have any friends besides them. He decided to just turn on the tv and flicked through the channels, not really finding anything that interested him as he went along. He settled on a random channel that was playing a silly cartoon that was probably way more suited for younger children–but that thought only lasted a moment until he heard one of the characters yell, "Son of a bitch!" 

The show didn't really grab his attention that much and he'd much rather be doing something else, like maybe hanging out with Frank. He would visit him at his work but he didn't really have much else of a reason to go there besides to say hi or something.

After a while of just watching the television he decided it's been long enough since he let the steak marinate, and the television just wasn't very entertaining and he needed something else to do before he fell asleep.

He heaved himself off the couch and went into the kitchen to finish the food and ended up snacking on other things as he was cooking.

\--

The food was done, and if Frank wasn't coming home late he'd be there by now, but Gerard still had a little while longer to endure all by himself, he was just deathly bored. He heard the keys rattle in the door and he sat up a bit more. 

Frank sighed when he felt the warmth of his home hit his face. He saw Gerard smile up at him, "I was just dying of boredom." He drawled. Frank rolled his eyes and grinned.

"How was your day?" He asked after a little while. When Frank turned to look at him, noticing that his eyes were slightly glossed over and hazy, also a bit red. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, my day was good, I'm just a bit tipsy," he laughed. "We went to a bar for a little while, it was pretty fun." 

"Glad you had a good time," Gerard responded. "I went shopping, the fridge and freezer is looking less like a single man's house." 

"But it still is that way," he laughed, giving Gerard an odd look.

"Haha, yeah.." He smiled awkwardly. "I made dinner too." Gerard got up and lead Frank into the kitchen. He grabbed two plates from the microwave and unwrapped them from their aluminum foil. "Here you go," he said placing Frank's meal on the table.

Gerard placed his food down and took a seat across from Frank, he noticed that Frank was just staring down at his food, "Is everything okay?" He asked taking a bite of his food. 

"Yeah, well–"

"Do you not like steak?" Gerard gave him his most apologetic eyes and Frank swore it felt like he was coming out again. 

"It's not that, it's just–I'm a vegetarian."

Gerard mentally face-palmed, feeling quite in considerate. "I'm so sorry," he sighed. "So fucking stupid," he muttered to himself, feeling his cheeks go a bit hot from embarrassment. 

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it," Frank said with a smile, "I'll just get more salad and we can like, save the steak for you later." He got up and looked through the fridge, seeing how full it was. He felt like an adult.

Frank grabbed the salad and poured more on his plate with some dressing.

"I'm really sorry, Frankie," Gerard sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Once Frank came around the table, a new plate in hand he ruffled Gerard's hair, "It's fine, I swear. You didn't know." He took his seat across from Gerard, "So how was your day?"

"It was pretty good," Gerard responded. "I brought some clothes for myself 'cause it's pretty clear that I'm gaining some weight, I hope you don't mind," he laughed. "What about you? How was your day?"

Frank chuckled a not scooping some salad from his plate. "Work wasn't too eventful today, just mainly in the morning when people are coming in to get coffee," he explained. "What does your outfit look like?"

"Well I haven't tried it on myself yet, but it's something like what I would've wore before I left home." Frank nodded. 

"But maybe I'll try it on later and give you a bit of a fashion show," Gerard winked playfully, causing Frank's cheeks to turn the slightest shade of pink. 

\--

The night ended up with Frank crashing in the living room again with Gerard and Sweet Pea got up from her slumber to eat a bit more then tucked herself up against Frank. Gerard never followed up with his word of giving Frank a fashion show but he went out like a light as soon as his head hit the pillow anyways–maybe they'd save the fashion show for another day, it would probably be a better idea since his clothes were still too big. 

Gerard turned out the light and laid himself on the floor about a foot away from Frank and closed his eyes.


	12. Chapter Twelve

It had been a few more months since they had been living together. Frank thought it was safe to say Gerard was at a very healthy weight, so healthy that Frank had trouble keeping his eyes off of him from how quick the transformation was and how good he looked. Gerard cheeks were very filled out now and Frank could properly see his actual features. His face was feminine and delicate. He had a round face and he was just so pretty. His ribs weren't even noticeable anymore. Maybe he had even gotten a bit chubby. But it looked good on him. He was hardly able to button up the jeans Frank would let him borrow and his thighs would completely fill out his sweat pants and Gerard seemed a lot more confident and sure of himself. 

Frank was about to have another day off and Gerard was ecstatic. He's always so bored when he's home alone. They spent the night having those 3 AM conversations like they probably shouldn't have on Frank's work days. But they still do it anyway despite Frank waking up in regret for his lack of sleep.

He always thought the conversations were always well worth it in the end. He got to see a side of Gerard that's not shown during the day, he was more of an open book then. A little more vulnerable to his own emotions. He gets another story from him every night that they have those late night chats. Some left unfinished as they were a bit more difficult to tell, and some that he could look back at and laugh, which would always ended up being Frank's favorites. 

He likes Gerard's laugh. Especially those ones where he's laughing so hard he can barely get a sentence out. He has a loud, childish, high pitched sort of laughter. Not to mention that his smile was a bit lopsided which Frank had recently taken note of. To Frank, it just made his smile so much more captivating.

Tonight's story he was talking about his baby brother, Mikey. He says he's probably like 10 as of now and he's turning 11 in September, Frank could tell he was a bit sad talking about Mikey. He said he had no clue where he lived and was too scared to visit his father again. "If you ever want to visit your dad again, I can be there with you," Frank said, gently squeezing Gerard's shoulder. 

He smiled, "Thanks." Gerard began to go on and on about how great of a kid Mikey was. Telling him about Mikey's mishaps with their toaster. He stuck a fork in it and nearly died, as Gerard said. "It was a few months before I left, he didn't know what he was doing," he laughed. "It was scary as hell when it was happening, but I'm glad he's okay." Gerard added. "And that I could look back at it and laugh–he had no access to the toaster for a while, I wonder if he's allowed to use it now.." 

"Wow, for that long?" Frank asked, baffled. 

"I know, it's crazy," he responded, laughing. "So many temper tantrums when he couldn't make any toast, but he ended up liking the ones I made for him better," Gerard said looking at the ceiling reminiscing about his little brother. "I wonder if he even remembers me." 

"I'm sure he would," Frank reassured him.

Frank could see tears welling up in his friend's eyes. Gerard immediately shifted to his side, turning away from Frank and curled himself up, he sniffed. "I'm sorry–I just really miss him." 

Frank nodded his head in understanding. He hesitated as he debated whether or not he should wrap his arms around Gerard. He wasn't sure if it would be crossing a boundary or not. He decided, you know what? Whatever. He gently laid his arm across Gerard's side and pressed his forehead against his back. He he scooted in a bit closer, he felt Gerard's hand go over his own and he smiled a bit to himself. Frank said something Gerard couldn't really make out. He sniffed, "What was that?" He asked, his voice a bit watery and nasally.

"I'm sure he misses you just as much as you miss him," he said again.

"Oh.." He mumbled. "Yeah, I hope he does." 

They stayed in that position for quite some time. Neither of them wanted to move, both of them craved the intimacy just as much as the other. Frank closed his eyes in hopes that he would be able to sleep with Gerard like this. 

That was until Sweet Pea felt left out or something and ended up hopping on Frank's side. Her tiny paws digging into his side and he gasped in pain, Gerard immediately got up turning towards Frank. He wiped his eyes, opening his mouth, getting ready to ask Frank if he was okay. He laughed when he saw it was just Sweet Pea. He silently cursed her as well seeing that she had all of Frank's attention. 

He mentally smacked himself–getting jealous over a dog. He reached over to pet Sweet Pea who enthusiastically licked his hand. He laughed at how much energy she had considering she just woke up. 

Frank had her laying on top of his chest, she stuffed her face in the crook of his neck. He scrunched his face up and gave Gerard a long-suffering look when she licked his neck a few time. Gerard laid back down on his side, this time facing Frank and Sweet Pea. He watched the two, Sweet Pea settling down in her spot on Frank's chest. Frank tilted his head to Gerard's direction seeing that he was looking at the both of them with a longing look on his face. He blushed a bit when Frank caught his eyes and smiled.

He turned to his side, carefully sliding Sweet Pea off his chest and it ended up with her just walking away and going back to her bed. "Um.. Do you mind if I..?" Frank raised his arm a bit gesturing to wrap it around him.

"Oh no–go ahead," Gerard said nodding.

"Sorry, it's nice to have something to hold onto while I sleep," Frank said wrapping his arms around Gerard.

Gerard hummed in agreement, "I get it," he said. "Me too." He also wrapped his own arms around Frank. 

"You know what I don't get?" 

"What's that?" 

"The fact that we have a bed perfectly suitable for two, but we insist on sleeping on the floor of the living room," he pointed out. 

Gerard snorted, "I never thought about that. Do you wanna lay there instead?" 

"Kind of.." Frank said sheepishly with a small smile on his face. "I'd like to think I know you a lot better now so sharing a bed is okay." 

Gerard nodded. He removed his arms from Frank and got up. He helped Frank up and the both of them walked to his room.

Now that they were both laying down in a single bed, everything felt a lot more intimate. Frank rolled over into Gerard's chest and closed his eyes, he could really feel his exhaustion hitting him. There was a tiny bit of daylight beginning to come in and that means the they've been up a few hours longer than usual. It wasn't a very big deal, especially since Frank didn't have work tomorrow or no where that he needed to go. He could just hang out with Gerard all day. 

He felt Gerard wrap one arm around him and kind of rested his chin on top of his head. Frank sighed in content, hoping things wouldn't be awkward by time they wake up. Frank dozed off not too long after Gerard did as well.

\--

Frank woke up to an empty bed, but he did hear a lot of racket in the kitchen. He got up, feeling himself get a bit of a head rush. He groaned and laid himself back down to let himself settle down. 

He heard footsteps coming towards the room and he sat back up, getting up much slower this time. "Oh you're awake? Good morning," Gerard beamed at him. Frank saw that Gee was wearing clothes that he didn't recognize. But he looked damn good in them. Gerard noticed Frank checking him out and felt his cheeks heat up a little bit, "What?" He asked with a small shy laugh. He folded his arms across his stomach, shying away from the attention.

Frank's eyes immediately went back to his face, "Sorry, it's just, you look really nice today," he said hanging his head down sheepishly. 

"Oh, thank you," Gerard's lips curved into a small smile. "I just came back from buying milk–soy milk." Frank smiled graciously. "I kinda cleared out the freezer of all the meats–"

"Oh, you didn't have to!" 

"No, I wanted to," Gerard stated. "I won't have to cook separate dinners every night," He explained, shrugging. "Do you want breakfast? We have cereal."

Frank laughed, "I don't see why not."

"Oh you were expecting something more extravagant?" He teased, he let out an over-exaggerated chuckle that made Frank snort, "Not today.."

Frank stood up and stretched himself out, it consisted of flailing his arms up and groaning. "Okaay.. I think I'm ready for breakfast now," he yawned. 

He followed Gerard out into the kitchen, he seemed to be swaying his hips a bit more than usual or maybe Frank was just staring more than usual. 

"I can make you a bowl if you want, hard working man," Gerard offered, twisting his body to look back at Frank as he opened the cabinets with a cheeky grin on his face. 

Frank laughed with a slight blush tinting his cheeks, "That'd be great actually," he said taking a seat. He watched as Gerard grabbed two bowls for them. He honestly wanted nothing more than to curl back up in bed with Gerard. It seemed like all he had to do was ask, but it was scary enough to do that. 

Before he knew it, Gerard was serving their cereal, "Whatcha thinkin' about?" He asked placing the cereal in front of Frank with the skills of a waiter. 

"Just how much I wanna lay back down," Frank whined, leaning his head back. 

"Good thing it's your day off, you can lay down all you want." Frank ignored the small voice in the back of his head telling saying he wanted to lay down with him. Instead he just muttered out a small word of agreement. 

Gerard sat across from him with a small smile on his face. It really did seem like it was permanently stuck there since Frank let him live here. 

He looked into his bowl for a while, not really feeling too hungry. He really just wanted to lay down again, he wasn't sad or anything. He just really missed the moment of intimacy him and Gerard had last night. 

And it wasn't just that, he also had other things prodding his thoughts. Like.. He felt like he was close enough to ask Gerard how exactly did he end up homeless, but he doesn't want to make anything awkward. But he still wants to know. Frank finally just decided fuck it. 

He put his spoon down into his bowl, it landing with a soft clatter as the spoon hit the rim. He cleared his throat, "I've been wanting to ask you something Gee.."

Gerard's attention immediately went from his cereal to the tattooed man. "Yes?" He asked, his face seeming a bit worried. 

"Well, um.. You don't have to answer if you don't want to but uh, how did you become homeless?" He could see Gerard swirling his spoon in his bowl thoughtfully, his eyebrows knitted together. "You don't have to answer.." Frank said with a reassuring smile. 

"No, no I owe you some sort of explanation," he said stumbling over his words a bit.

"You don't owe me anything–"

"Well I feel as though I owe you my life," before Frank could say anything as he was preparing to, Gerard spoke again. "If it weren't for you I would've been dead!" Frank stayed silent. Gerard let out a small sigh, "If there's anything you wanted, I'd do it," he added with his eyes locked with Frank's.

Frank remembered what he looked like when he first found Gerard in the snow. Deathly skinny and extremely cold. He remembered giving Gerard a bath after he warmed up a bit. He slept through most of it and thankfully, didn't make it too awkward.

He remembers removing the grime off his bare thigh with a warm towel revealing smooth pale skin surprisingly unscarred for the most part. Frank remembers getting a clear view of his face after all the dirt was off, he was stunned at how skinny he was. And seeing him today, he just so amazed. He looks so good now. 

Gerard didn't say anything for a while, he seemed to be trying to gather his thoughts, "It was a, you're fired! You can't fire me because I quit! Sort of deal, right," he explained looking down at his bowl. Frank nodded, listening intently, there was another long pause before he said anything again, "I'm not really sure what the hell I was thinking–thinking I could make it out here alone," he sighed propping his elbow on the table to rest his head in his palm. "I told you I was gay right?" He asked. 

"I think so, if you didn't I kinda figured," Frank shrugged, he's sure a straight guy would not be down with cuddling at nearly 4 AM. 

Gerard let out a small huff of a laughter, "So it's basically a story like that, so I was caught y'know.." Frank nodded, his cheeks feeling a bit hot at the thought of him doing that, he made a pained face to sympathize with him. "And to make things so much more worst it was with a guy, it was my dad who caught me. Next thing I know I'm being grabbed by my hair naked and all and he's practically dragging me down the stairs, I'm surprised I didn't get any permanent scars from it," he said. Instead of sounding sad like Frank expected, he seemed more angry and spiteful over everything. "Then he's just like... Screaming at me, I don't even know what he was saying. My mom was just yelling at him to let me put some clothes on," he was agitatedly tapping his fingers on the table. Frank wanted to reach over and hold his hand or something, but his arms weren't long enough to reach. "I took that as my cue to run upstairs to at least find some clothes and I found that my boyfriend–Ex-boyfriend rather just fucking bailed. Didn't try to help me or anything. I was just another body for him to just fuck," he spat, his face was becoming more and more angry by the minute. "Like, I don't know we were on the second floor, did he jump? I haven't seen him since–like I don't want to expect things from people but I was actually convinced that he cared." Frank nodded in understanding, knowing that feeling all too well.

"So like, that's where it started, but I wasn't actually full on kicked out then," he said. "He said if I couldn't 'be straight' I've gotta find a new place to stay. So I was kinda like yeah sure, whatever. But it was more of a double cross," he shifted himself into a more comfortable position, crossing one leg over the other. "And those next few months of my life were a living hell. I had absolutely no privacy, like my mom.. She was trying to get my dad to like calm down, so he started getting angry at her for supporting my 'life style.' I was at the point where I just wanted to fuckin'.. Just die or something, he was constantly making me feel like shit, he didn't even call me by my name anymore. It was always hey bitch, you faggot, dick sucker. You name it, like I was this close to downing a bottle of pills until one day I did it, like it wasn't just words, there was physical abuse involved too. I didn't want to deal with it anymore, so.. Yeah," his voice cracked a bit at the end and he was looking down. A tear dropped from his eye and onto the table. Frank could feel his heart drop, he physically pained him to know that he attempted suicide. He could feel tears well up in his eyes as well. 

"So after that I was on suicide watch, had therapy for a while and was assigned antidepressants," he sniffed a bit and wiped his eyes. "But I didn't really need them, what I was feeling wasn't a mental illness or anything. I I was just being physically and emotionally abused. But after that I did think things were looking up a bit.." He said. "But then I just get fucked over again, once my dad seemed to have forgotten everything that happened, and goes from Mr. Nice guy back to being how he was. My mom ends up leaving him and apologized to me cause she couldn't afford to support both me and Mikey. Like I guess.. It was understandable, she didn't have a well paying job and I wouldn't want Mikey left alone with that prick either he's was only six. So once they left I kinda just stopped caring anymore. I was caught with another guy but we only got as far as making out but that was enough to get the same reaction out of my dad but maybe worst this time. So at this point we were both just yelling at each other and once again I was just y'know left behind.. Same shit, different guy. Then my dad decided he finally had enough and I did too, and just at the same time I told him I was leaving he tells me to leave, and then I'm out in the streets." 

Frank's face was nearly soaked with tears and he was on the verge of outright sobbing for his friend. He got up, not caring about any boundaries they may or may not have had and took a seat on Gerard's lap and wrapped his arms around his him and stuffing his face into the crook of his neck. "I'm so glad you're okay now," Frank muttered.

Gerard immediately wrapped his arms back around him, "It's all because of you."


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating the rest! lol I got kind of lazy.

The two of them spent Frank's day off kind of attached at the hip. Gerard made them hot coca and mixed some coffee in with it. They were sat in the living room Sweet Pea was occupying one half of Frank's lap and Gerard's head was on the other. He somehow managed to fall asleep after downing a entire mug of a hot cocoa-coffee mixture.

Frank was watching something on the food channel, cupcake warriors he thinks it's called. He thought it was a silly name at first, but as the show got more intense he realized it was fitting. Cupcake making was no joke. The shows were playing on the food channel was both getting him hungry and inspiring him to make some giant feast. But these guys know the kitchen like the back of their hand. Frank can barely make scrabbled eggs without burning everything. But he's lucky Gerard's here now, he doesn't have to rely on Bert's sandwiches as often, (not that he minded) although he still gets lunches and sometimes breakfast from him.

After a while of just absentmindedly watching the TV, he heard a knock on the door. He kind of flailed his arms. He felt Gerard shift on his lap. He gently lifted his head and replaced it with a pillow. He heard a few knocks again. He tip toed to the door and looked through the peephole. The people knocking on his door were Brendon and Pete, had a relatively large bag in his hand and seemed like he was rocking back and forth on his heels.

Frank opened up his door, and peeked his head out. He squinted when he found that it was a lot brighter out there. "Sup guys," he greeted his voice a bit quiet.

"Why are you so quiet?" Pete asked.

Frank looked back checking if Gee was stilling sleeping, "Gerard's asleep."

"Who's that– oh right," he said rolling his eyes. "I forgot his name," he laughed. "He's the whole reason we came here too."

"More like I dragged his sorry ass here," Brendon piped in, taking a drag of his cigarette. "Do you have an ashtray?"

"Yeah, come in," Frank said stepping out of the way. "Just be quiet."

Brendon and Pete walked in before him. Frank could already see Pete checking him out and heard him mutter, "Damn.."

"Uh-huh, kitchens that way," Frank said pushing him towards the kitchen, he could see Pete still bending his head to look at the sleeping man. He could feel a bit of jealousy boiling up inside him.

"Patrick's not gonna be too happy if he were to find out you were looking at another guy," Brendon said, stubbing his cigarette out in the sink, then throwing the rest away. "Oh, I hope none of you wanted to finish that," he apologized after he threw the cigarette away. Frank waved him off, and smiled at Brendon gratefully.

Pete made a pained face, "I was just.. looking."

"Yeah, looking I hope it stays looking."

"It will, it will," he promised.

"When did you and Patrick become a thing?"

"When you were too busy cooped up in your own home to hang out with you friends," Pete said playfully glaring at him. "Speaking of which are you and him an item?"

Frank blushed, and scratched his head with a shy smile, "O-Oh no.."

"Crushing?" Brendon asked with a smirk playing at his lips. Frank gave him a look but otherwise did not deny it.

"Ooohh.. Frankie's got a crush." Pete began cooing with Brendon and Frank could feel his cheeks warming up. He hushed them in fear of Gerard hearing them. Brendon hopped on to counter for a seat. "What's he like?"

"You're making it seem like he's not in the room," He whisper-yelled.

"He's only here with us physically, he's really off in the dream land.." Pete said.

"He had a bowl before we got here, don't mind him." Frank laughed. "So tell us what he's like."

"I'll keep an eye on the living room," Pete offered.

Brendon and Pete looked at him expectantly, "Are you guys fucking serious?" They both nodded. Frank sighed. "Okay.. He's really sweet and gives really good hugs," he said, and by hugs he meant he was a damn good cuddle buddy. He wasn't going to get in depth about all of that though. His friends would probably criticize him about being able to cuddle him but not ask him to date him. He knew he was doing everything backwards, he didn't need anyone telling him.

"That's it?" Brendon asked with a disappointed tone in his voice.

Frank crossed his arms and leaned back on the counter, "That's all I'm telling."

"You're a little sh–"

"He's getting up!" Pete whispered urgently. "Do I hide?!"

"No, dumbass act natural," Brendon said rolling his eyes. "God, I feel like I'm watching a fucking toddler," he looked over to Frank who also kinda seemed like he wasn't sure what to do either. "Two toddlers."

"Frankie?" Gerard called, his voice a bit croaky. Brendon noticed Frank didn't say anything, he slapped his shoulder, which seemed to turn Frank's mind back on.

"In the kitchen!" He called. He could hear his footsteps coming closer.

"O-oh h-hello," Gerard stuttered.

Pete smiled awkwardly and gave him a small wave. "Use your words, Peter," Brendon said, Frank snorted.

"I'm Pete," he greeted. Frank could see Gerard nodding slowly with his mouth slightly agape clearly recognizing him.

"What else..?" Brendon was acting like a mother at this point.

"I'm really sorry about stealing your sketchbook," he explained. At that point Gerard straightened his posture and crossed his arms with his lips pursed. 

"And..?"

"My friend here, Brendon, had nothing to do with it, he thought we were going shopping." Brendon opened his mouth to say something else, Pete held up a hand to stop him, "I know this part," Pete said, handing the bag over to Gerard.

He hesitantly took it and opened it, Frank saw Gerard face brighten up with a large smile, "Thank you!" He grinned closing the bag. Gerard walked up to him and gave him a quick hug then immediately retreated to Frank's side. He kind of leaned himself on Frank to show him what was in his bag. There was another sketch book and pencils, coloring pencils, markers, paints, and paint brushes. "Look at all of it!" He gushed happily.

"Pete shouldn't get all the credit, Brendon chipped in too," Brendon whined. Frank laughed. Gerard smiled up at him and thanked him.

"We weren't able to get the other guy here, he was working." Gerard shrugged nonchalantly, he was too busy practically drooling over his new art supplies.

"Well that's kind of all we came here for," Brendon said. "I have a job to get, as well as you Pete. Later Frank and Gerard."

"Bye guys," Pete said, waving.

"Thanks again," Gerard said with a big smile waving.

"No problem," they both said in unison. A few seconds later Frank heard the door shut. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, he pulled it out and checked the message, he's an OKAY hugger. Pete sent. He laughed and looked back up to Gerard.

"They're nice," he said.

Frank nodded and put his phone back in his pocket deciding to ignore the message, "They're not so bad when they're not being stupid, how'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good," Gerard absentmindedly. He dug his hand into his new art supplies, looking at the brands surprised to find that they were all really good brand items.

Frank laughed already being able to tell that Gerard wanted to draw or something, "You can go ahead and draw if you want, I'm not stopping you."

"I do wanna draw but I have plenty of time for that, you have only today and tomorrow off."

Frank could feel his cheeks heat up, he put a hand over his heart and one on his cheek. "I–wow, that was really sweet," he let out a girlish giggle.

Gerard shrugged, "I do have a way with words," he said wiggling his eyebrows. Frank laughed.

\--

It was later in the afternoon and the two of them were kind of out of that lazy mood where all the lights except maybe the bathroom and kitchen. Frank put on some actual clothes so he could feel a little more productive. They were both sat at the kitchen, not really consuming anything, (minus the coffee that Gerard insisted that he needs) just for a change of scenery.

"I noticed, you don't really talk about yourself, huh?" Gerard piped up.

"Well there's not really much to tell honestly," Frank responded. His life wasn't very exciting, maybe the most exciting point of his life was when his mom basically banned his grandmother's sister from their home, and maybe when he came out.

"Well your tattoos tell me... that is false information." Gerard said, reaching over to grab Frank's hands. He massaged his knuckles with the pads of his thumbs, "What do the letters mean?" He asked. "I've never been able to figure them out."

Frank gently pulled his hands away, he loved doing this. He intertwined his fingers together and watched Gerard read. He gave a delighted smile, "Bookworm, huh? That's clever. Why Halloween?"

"That's my birthday," he answered with a smile.

He gasped, "Really? That's so fucking cool, my birthday is in boring old April."

"Well at least the weathers nice during your birthday."

"I'll take it," he shrugged. Frank laughed. "So by these two tattoos," he said pointing at the hopeless and romantic on his hands, "I'm guessing you're really corny and cheesy," Gerard grinned, "Relationship wise."

"Eh.. I guess," Frank said a small smile tugging at his lips. "You could say that." He looked down at his hands, admiring his own tattoos. "But if we were to pin point the meaning of each of my tattoos, we could probably be here for days."

"Jesus, how many do you have?" Gerard asked his lips parted lighted.

Frank blushes slightly at the way Gerard was looking at him like he was a slab of meat, "I think it would be fair to say more than half of my body is covered with them and more are being planned."

"Wow.." he breathed. "That's amazing." Gerard could feel himself practically drooling, he loved tattoos, just to scared to get any of his own. And not only did Frank have loads of tattoos, he was good looking with the personality to match and had piercings. Although he wouldn't admit this to himself, y'know to keep things from getting awkward, Frank was basically everything that was his type.

"You should get tattoos, you'd look good with them," Frank suggested.

Gerard blinked, getting himself to focus. "I would, but I hate needles," he said. "I'd shit bricks just looking at them." Frank let out a loud cackle. "But I prefer looking at tattoos on other people rather than myself."

"Well you can't say that until you get some tattoos of your own."

"Sure I can, I've wore the tacky tattoo sleeve when I was in my freshman year of high school," he replied.

Frank snorted extremely loud and burst into a fit of giggles, "Really?"

"Yeah, but it got a negative response," he laughed and leaned back in his chair. "So I stopped, my friends never let me live it down though," he said with a small smile on his face. "They kept calling me edgy in a sarcastic way," he laughed.

"I can't believe you would actually wear that, especially in high school," Frank laughed. "That's like a death wish."

"Yeah I practically absorbed my fashion sense from all the wrong people," he laughed. "I saw an old woman in a 7-11 wearing them and I was just starting high school, and I was like 'hey those look cool, where'd you get those from?'" Gerard shook his head. "I started wearing stuff like this during like summer break after freshmen year," he gestured to his current outfit.

"Summer?" Frank asked, "You didn't have like, a heat stroke?"

Gerard laughed and shook his head, "All I've to do is remove the jacket and that's what I call summer attire," he said. "But your apartment is fucking freezing so I'm keeping it on."

"Our apartment," Frank corrected.

He could see a small smile forming on Gerard's face. "Right.." He giggled a bit.

The day basically continued like that until the semi-late hours of the evening. Frank showed him the tattoo on the inside of his lower lip with New Jersey's initials. He said it was one of the most painful tattoos he ever experienced.

"When you do that it's like you're trying to be straight for like point two seconds," Gerard laughed. Frank laughed with him and removed the V shape he created with his fingers from his bottom lip.

"Shut up," he laughed.

\--

The night went to a close, Gerard made them a quick dinner. They ended up sleeping in the same bed again. Gerard ended up declining at first saying Frank should probably let himself have some room to stretch out properly. Frank insisted that it was by constantly rephrasing what he said to not make himself seem so desperate. But in the end, that's what it took to convince Gerard.

"Well if you wanted me in your bed that much Frank, you could've just said so," he said. Frank rolled his eyes, it seemed like the longer they lived together the more Gerard flirted with him. Maybe he was just a really flirty and touchy kind of guy.

Gerard ended up being the big spoon that night, but it wasn't until he was out cold that he wrapped his arm around Frank and pressed his body up against him along with pulling Frank towards him, seemingly trying to get as physically close as possible. It kind of surprised him at first, he was almost into a good sleep himself. He held onto the forearm that Gerard had wrapped around him. He felt Gerard stuff his face into the crook of his neck, feeling his content exhale on him. He shivered a bit from the feeling. He sighed in content himself and shut his eyes.

He ended up subconsciously pretending they were a couple. This wouldn't be considered weird at all if they were, but people could call their cuddling as friends weird but Frank could give two shits. It was no secret to Frank or Gerard that he liked sleeping like this with Gee. It was pretty obvious when he practically begged the other man to sleep in here with him. Frank was just taking what he could get. If they were a couple Frank could get this and more.

Gerard shifted a bit, snuggling closer, if it was even possible, "Are you still awake?" Gerard asked, his voice heavy with sleep. He loosened his hold on Frank, but otherwise didn't move too much.

"Uh, yeah," he responded opening his eyes.

"Oh am I making you uncomfortable? I can–"

"No, no, it's fine," Frank said quickly, not realizing he was tightening his grip on Gerard forearm, kind of forcing him to stay there.

Gerard chuckled. "Okay," he said wiggling a bit to get himself comfortable again. "Any particular reason you're still awake?"

"Not really," he said, shifting a bit. He heard Gerard's sharp intake of breath. "Just thinking—you okay?"

He felt Gerard nod on his shoulder muttering a small mhm. "Try to go to sleep, yeah?" Gerard said.

"It's not like I have work tomorrow," Frank complained.

"I know, but still," he said. "Go to sleep," he whisper, him being very close to Frank's ear, he ended up shuddering slightly. He heard Gerard let out huff of laughter, clearly knowing the effect that had on Frank.

"Okay," he said quietly. Maybe his friends should've scolded him about not asking him out yet. He already thought of a scenario that could've lead to if they were something more than 'friends'.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

For the past few months that they've known each other, Frank has confirmed that yes, Gerard is a very touchy person. Now Frank knows he doesn't have any sort of relationship with Gerard past very intimate friends, but he's beginning to get the notion that Gerard is like that with, well, everyone. And if he were to he completely honest with himself, he'd admit to his jealousy of seeing Gerard practically hanging off of Pete, Bob, and Brendon's back. With Bob, he's not as worried, he as straight as a man can get. Brendon knows his boundaries, and although Pete has a boyfriend himself, he can get a bit carried away sometimes. Frank sometimes has to glare at the guy to get him to calm down a bit. It's no secret to the three that he had a bit of a crush on Gerard.

If there's anything Frank hoped, it was that the late night cuddling was reserved for him and only him. And he's lucky that Gerard does seem most comfortable with him so that's good.

Frank was just leaving from work, he was going to go home pick up Gerard and head over to Brendon's house. They were gonna go out to some club or something, no one was really sure.

He walked a few steps down the street and he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. His mother was calling, "Hello–"

"Frank," she said softly. His face immediately grew worried.

"What's wrong?" He asked straightening up.

"Your grandfather, h-he died today."

Frank paused, he felt like he was going to cry, scream, vomit, and faint all at once. "No, no, no, what?" He asked quickly, hoping that he heard something wrong. He could hear his mom sniffling on the other line confirming that what he heard was correct.

Frank felt tears stinging his eyes, he took a few steps back and leaned on the brick wall behind and slid to the floor, sitting on the pavement. "How?" He whisper, his voice not quite strong enough to be at a steady volume.

"He just.." She took a moment to let out a small sob, "H-he just wasn't breathing anymore." She explained. "We went to his house and he was on the couch and we thought he was just sl-sleeping. We tried to wake him up and he was cold, I check his pulse and there was nothing." Frank let out a choked sob. His granddad meant so much to him. He felt so guilty, he couldn't spend nearly as much time as he wanted with his grandpop because he lived far away and work and he didn't have any form of transportation that went down that route and he doesn't like borrowing Brendon's car all the time. Tears were streaming uncontrollably down his cheeks, he just didn't know what to do. He should probably head home, cancel his plans with his friends.

"Frankie, I'll," she hiccuped, "I'll call you later, t-tell you the details about, y'know, everything."

Frank nodded and muttered a small okay. He ended the call and just sat there for a while before he decided he should get home before his friends start searching for him.

He could still feel tears running down his cheeks as he walked down the sidewalk. No matter how hard he tried to stop crying, he just couldn't. He kept his head down as he walked to avoid people staring at his drenched face.

He was finally home and begrudgingly opened up the door. He saw Gerard putting on his jacket and turned around with a smile that immediately dropped into a frown when he saw Frank's face. He immediately rushed over to him and enveloped him into a hug.

Gerard rested his head in top of Frank's and Frank held on to Gerard tight and just let it all out. He began sobbing uncontrollably. Gerard could feel his own eyes watering up, he didn't know what was wrong but he definitely didn't like seeing or hearing his friend like this. He ran his hand through Frank's hair as he cried into his shirt. "What's the matter, Frankie?" Gerard asked, gently rubbing his back.

"My grand–grandpa," he cried. "He's dead." Gerard nodded and hugged him closer. He remembers feeling like this when he lost his grandmother, but he didn't have anyone to comfort him. His grandma died not too long after he came out. For a while the two just stood in the middle of the room holding onto each other. Gerard soothingly combing his hand through Frank's hair.

Frank finally let go saying he needed some time to think by himself and ended up locking himself in his room. He remembered doing the exact same thing when his grandma died. He just hoped Frank wasn't as bad as him. But he is going to give Frank some time to himself, everyone needs it. He used the house phone to call everyone and tell them they weren't coming.

Once Gerard told them that Frank's granddad died everyone on fell silent. "When?" Brendon asked after a long pause.

Gerard shrugged, "I don't know, I don't know how either. Frank only told me he passed away."

"We'll try to come around tomorrow," Brendon said. "I see you later." Everyone else mutter a quick bye or something along the lines and the call ended.

Gerard flopped back on the couch and hoped Frank was going to be okay.

\--

The next day Pete, Bob, and Brendon came over and Frank didn't get out of his room. He ignored everyone the whole time. He didn't say a single word even when someone knocked on the door. After a while they all had to leave for work and Frank's job called on the house phone, Gerard let them know his grandfather had passed away and they gave him some time off for mourning. Gerard brought food to his room but he would never open the door.

It's been about a week since his grandfathers passing and it reassured. Gerard when he'd heard Frank come out of his room in the middle of the night when he thought Gerard was asleep. He'd usually go to the bathroom and go to the kitchen. He'd bring sweet pea in his room for a little while and then would let her out later. Sometimes he'd stand in the living contemplating whether or not he wanted to lay on the couch with Gerard.

He wasn't really quite sure what to do with himself anymore. He didn't know how to feel, he was hoping this was a horrible nightmare he just couldn't wake up from. His mother texted him two days ago telling him that the funeral was going to be what was now tomorrow. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to bring himself to go. He knew that would make what he wanted to believe was a bad dream, a cruel reality. He knew that everyone dies but he wished his grandfather could be the first person who lived forever.

His heart was aching so much and he didn't want anyone seeing him this down so he locked himself away. He felt bad for constantly ignore Gerard, but he knew he'd feel even worst if he let him see him like this. Every day he felt like it was getting worst instead of better. He felt empty knowing his grandfather was gone for good.

\--

It was finally the day of the funeral and Frank was dreading it. It came far too quick for his liking and he was seriously contemplating not going at all. He didn't want to face reality or any of that. He just wanted to stay home in his room and pretend that he was fine.

He knew his mom would be pissed at him if he dared to skip, but it was a while until he actually got up. He got out a suit in the back of his closet that he wasn't hoping to see anytime soon. He wore that for when his aunt passed away a few years back. He quickly went to the bathroom and stripped himself of his clothes and took a shower. He shaved and washed his body and hair. He let himself stand in the warm water for a while before he decided he was wasting too much time. He got out and dried his hair and styled it in a more formal way. He washed his face then got dressed and went out into the living room.

Gerard greeted him with a small smile and got up from his position on the couch and gave him a hug. Frank just leaned his head on his chest with a blank expression on his face. Gerard pulled back with his hands on Frank's shoulders, "You're gonna be okay," he said. He planted a small kiss on Frank's forehead. He felt his cheeks heat up from the gesture and he felt a tiny bit better.

Gerard smoothed out Frank's hair and looked at him affectionately. He pulled him into another hug, this time he actually hugged him back. "You'll be okay right?" He asked seeming to need to reassure himself that what he said would be true.

It was a small moment before Frank said anything, but he nodded his head and mumbled a small, "Yeah." A little while later Frank asked him, "Do.. Do you want to go with me?"

"Is that okay?" Gerard asked.

He nodded, "I want you there."

Gerard smiled slightly and nodded, "I'll go change."

\--

It wasn't long before the two of them arrived at the funeral. Everyone was already seated. There was a spot vacant next to Frank's parents. He immediately walked to them and hugged them. "Hi mom and dad," he muttered. He could feel his moms tears on his cheeks and his fathers eyes had tears clinging onto his lashes but not quite giving in and falling yet.

"Who's this?" His mother asked looking over to Gerard. She smiled kindly and Gerard gave her a sad smile back.

"This is my friend G-Gerard.." Frank said, Gerard gave his parents both hugs and gave them his condolences.

"Nice to meet you," he said.

"Sorry this was how you had to meet us," she said, giving Frank a look for his bad timing.

"It's okay," he responded smiling lightly. The ceremony was slow and sad a handful of people told some stories of how great of a man he was including Frank, who broke down on the podium. Gerard immediately went up to him and comforted him as he tried to continue on with his speech. It was finished through lots of tears and a sore hand on Gerard's part from Frank squeezing it so tightly.

Once everything was over, Frank immediately retreated back to his room. Gerard sighed but let him go anyway.

At night Gerard could hear Frank lightly sniffling and Sweet Pea scratching at his door and whining until he let her in. But she would never stay in there the whole night. That fact that he let her in and out at different times of the evening made him wonder if Frank was getting any sleep at all.

It was the morning and Gerard knocked on Frank's door as a futile attempt of giving him breakfast. "Frankie? I have breakfast for you."

He didn't get an answer, he wasn't sure if Frank was awake or not. He turned the knob of the door only to find that it was still locked. He sighed. "I'll leave it in the fridge if you get hungry."

Gerard really wanted to hug Frank or something. He knew it wouldn't take away the heartache, but it's better than being alone. When his grandma died he became malnourished because he wouldn't come out of his room for days at a time. He was lucky he had a bathroom in his bedroom. He at least had water to provide himself along with a bathroom. That was why he didn't feel the want to go outside as much as he needed.

Gerard was also practically forced to get over his grandma's death. His father broke down his door and yelled at him about how much he was making his mother worry. He pulled him out of the room and forced him to sit at the dinner table. His dad snapped at him again for just looking at his plate. For him to have not properly eaten he still didn't have an appetite. He was the one who found his grandmothers dead body. He couldn't get the image out of his head. But he was happy that Frank did leave out of his room, it was just when he thought Gerard didn't know.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Frank was eventually out of his room, but he was practically not acknowledging anyone's existence except for his dog. He took her on walks more often than necessary, as it was around the middle of spring nearing towards the end. He felt awful for ignoring Gerard. He could tell it was affecting the other man too.

He could see that every time he came out of his room Gerard would have a small hopeful smile on his face, only for it to disappear when Frank just walks past him to either take Sweet Pea on a walk or go to work.

But as far as Frank knew, Gerard had no idea how he was feeling. As far as he knew, he didn't know what it was like to permanently lose his loved ones. The ones who meant most to him, taught him everything he knew, accepted him no matter what. From what Gerard has told him, it didn't sound like he had anyone like that in his life.

He didn't know why that seemed like such a good excuse to brush everyone off, but he felt it was good enough. Maybe he wanted to just feel like it was okay for him to be a little selfish for a while. Maybe his coping mechanism was hurting others.

He walked into his house after another long day of work and threw his keys onto the coffee. He noticed Gerard wasn't in there. He did a quick scan of the house finding Sweet Pea asleep and Gerard was no where to be found. He looked in the kitchen seeing a note saying he was out with Brendon, Bob, and Peter and he'll be back later, and that there was also food in the fridge for him. Frank took the note and threw it away.

He looked into the fridge and grabbed his plate and heated it up, while waiting he filled up Sweet Pea's food bowl. He sat at the kitchen table and waited for the microwave to go off. He knew Gerard wouldn't be back for a few good hours. He decided to take the time to reacquaint himself with their apartment. Maybe he try being a little more productive, maybe it'll stop him from hurting so much, maybe it'll distract him.

He heard the microwave bing and he grabbed his plate, hissing in pain when he realized he might've had it in one minute too long. He grabbed oven mitts to help him manage the heat of the plate as he brought it back to the table. Frank grabbed himself a fork and sat back down and waited for his food to cool.

There wasn't any sound in the house besides the rhythmically ticking clock and the sound of Sweet Pea's chewing.   
Frank was almost tempted to throw his fork at the clock if it got it to stop the ticking because now it was just annoying him. It felt symbolic to his grandfather's death. He ran out of time. Everyone's running out of time. Him, his friends, his family, the person that could be sitting next to him. Everyone.

With the way his grandfather's passing made him feel, he wasn't sure if he could deal with losing another important person in his life. The thought of it made him wish he could make everyone he cared for hate him and vice versa before the day they died. He thought maybe it'll make the pain of the loss lessen if he didn't like them anymore.

Eventually, the clock ticking felt like it was getting louder and louder. It could've been that Sweet Pea had finished eating and are chewing wasn't blocking out some of the sound, or maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. He took his fork and launched it at the clock and cracked it. The fork clanked loudly on the ground but the clock was still ticking, everyone was still losing time. He could feel tears pricking his eyes. He was so frustrated and confused. He wasn't sure if it was because of the clock or everything that was making him feel this way. He knew no matter what he did to the clock, time would never stop. And if he did, by some miracle, manage to stop time, he was too late to bring his grandpa back. He let out a sob and got up. He grabbed the fork from the floor and threw it into the sink. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve and took the clock down. He turned it off and threw it into the trash. And now he could pretend time didn't exist.

\--

Frank didn't know how much time had pasted, he sat in his kitchen for a long time and couldn't bring himself to do anything productive. So he trapped himself in his room again. He was laid in his bed staring at the ceiling. He'd close his eyes every now and again only to find he couldn't sleep. His mind still racing, still processing, still in denial.

Grandfather.

Dead.

It just didn't fit to him, it didn't work. He never even imagined life without him as he was a huge part of his. It was like an impossible equation he couldn't seem to figure out no matter what formula he tried. He simply couldn't wrap his head around it.

And he wishes he could get a reason why, maybe it would make more sense to him. He knew his death was because of old age he just wants to know why couldn't it have been any other time but now. He wasn't even slightly prepared because the thought of his grandfather dying has never crossed his mind. Not even once.

He heard a knock on his door, "Fr-" he heard a hiccup, "Frank." Gerard, he heard the slur in his voice. He was drunk. He didn't respond. "You've gotta.. You've gotta stop doing this to me.. a-and yourself, s'not good." He mumbled. "I know it's hard.. trust m-me, I know–"

"What do you know?!" Frank yelled, shooting up from his bed and walking towards his door but not opening it. "Tell me, what exactly do you know about how I'm feeling?!" Gerard didn't say anything for a while, "Exactly not-"

"Today's... the f-fifth year anniversary of my grandma's death," he slurred. He heard the sound of something brushing against the door and assumed Gerard was sitting down. "I l-love her s-so much.." He hiccuped. "So much," he emphasized. "So please Frank," he said. "J-just let m-me in."

Frank stood there for a while contemplating opening his door. Gerard experienced what he has too. Maybe to an even worse degree. Frank's family loved him, they cared for him, they accepted him. Gerard didn't have that. But he had his grandmother, the only one who supported him through all the shit his household gave him for just being him. An Frank wasn't sure if drinking was his way of coping, but he hoped he was just doing it for the good times.

His hand was on the doorknob but otherwise, he didn't make any move to open it. "Frank.." Gerard begged, "I.. I don't want y-you going through th-this alone." He slurred. "S'not good for me, won't be good for you."

Frank ran his free hand through his hair and opened his door. He found it a bit comical when Gerard tried to catch himself from falling but ended up landing on his back in front of Frank's feet. Gerard gave him a lopsided smile, "I've been waiting for th-the door to open for so so long."

Frank reached a hand out and helped him up and next thing he knew he pulled Gerard into a hug. He might've hugged him tighter than anyone he's ever known. And Gerard returns it as much as his drunken state allowed him to. He reeked of alcohol and was practically putting all of his weight on him. But it was okay because Gerard was still Gerard, even when he was drunk.

Frank felt something warm, moist, and soft against his forehead for a split second. He felt his cheeks heat up when he realized Gerard kissed his forehead again. Gerard rested his head on top of Frank's and Frank had his own head nestled into his chest.

He pressed one more kiss to Frank's forehead then let go. After he let go he could feel his stomach gurgling and he booked it to the bathroom. He dropped to his knees and felt the bile rise to his throat before he released it. Frank came in not too long after and held his hair back like good friends do and patted his back. He kept his eyes averted from the toilet, the sound of Gerard's retching was one thing but if he actually saw it he'd be in the same position as him.

After Gerard let it out he raised his hand to the toilet and flushed it. He sat back on his heels, looking a bit faint. "Fuck.." He mumbled. He got up only to stumble over a bit. Frank got up and helped him stay on his feet. Frank lead them to his bedroom and laid Gerard down. He removed the jacket that he insisted on wearing in the middle of the spring for god knows why. "Thank you.." Gerard said quietly, he curled up into fetal position and closed his eyes.

Frank hung his jacket up in the closet and decided to finally change his clothes. He grabbed his pajamas and quickly shimmied out of his day clothes and put on his pjs. He got into bed with Gerard and fell asleep.

\--

Frank woke up before Gerard. He was lucky it was the weekend, he had off. He could care for Gerard through his inevitable hang over. He grabbed him a cup of water and two aspirins and placed it on the bedside drawer. He went back to the kitchen and cracked his knuckles. He grabbed the trash and closed up, not wanting the spare another glance at the clock that was once hung on the wall. He filled up Sweet Peas food and water bowl and called her. She immediately rushed into the kitchen getting herself a belly rub from Frank before she went to focus on her food.

He grabbed the trash and took it outside to the dumpster. He came back inside seeing no signs of Gerard being awake. Maybe he could whip up some instant oatmeal, there wasn't really much else he was good for in the kitchen. He was virtually useless in the cooking department.

He also found that doing things rather than sulking did get his mind off his grandfather's death. He thought it would put him in denial of he kept his mind off it, but rather than that it kept him focused on living his life. He knew his grandfather was dead, and as much as it still didn't make sense to him he was beginning to realized, it didn't have to. It wasn't a math problem or a missing puzzle piece. It just was. There didn't have to be any complicated reason. He died of old age it was that simple. He didn't have to dwell on the reasons. His grandfather lived his time and had a damn good time while he was at it. And Frank should be grateful for that. He died fulfilled and peacefully. But thinking like this didn't take his heart ache away, but it did make him feel better. His grandfather was a happy man.

Eventually Gerard came dragging himself into the living room and letting himself fall onto the couch. "Never again.." He grumbled.

"Did you take the aspirins?"

Frank saw him nod in the living room, "It didn't kick in yet."

He nodded in response, "I'm making oatmeal, it's one of the very few things I'm gifted at in the kitchen."

"Thank you," Gerard replied.

"It's no problem, you're always cooking for me."

"It's the least I can do," he said. "You gave me a place to stay."

Frank felt his lips curve into a smile. He opened a packet of instant oatmeal and poured it into a bowl. "How many packs do you want?"

"One, I wanna make sure I can keep if down."

Frank laughed, "Gotcha." He grabbed a cup and filled it with water and threw it into the microwave for two minutes. "How was your night?"

"It was fun," he responded. "I can't really remember it all, but I remember enjoying it," he said. Frank could hear him shifting on the couch. "It would've been much better if you were there though, I'm sure."

Frank shrugged, feeling himself blush a bit. "I don't like the idea of you seeing me act a fool while I'm drunk."

"Good thing I'd most likely be drunk too."

The microwave went off and Frank grabbed the cup of water with oven mitts and poured a little in the oatmeal, and stirred it and added a little more water. He repeated that until he got the consistency he wanted. He grabbed a spoon and put it into the bowl. He grabbed himself a pop-tart holding the packet in between his teeth as he grabbed the bowl and served it to Gerard. "Bon appetite," he mumbled, releasing his pop-tart from his teeth after Gerard grabbed his oatmeal. "You wanna move over?"

"You wanna feed me?" Frank slowly shook his head, but he knew he really wouldn't mind. "I don't wanna move over either."

Frank rolled his eyes with a smile playing at his lips. He pushed his lets out of the way and took that spot. He reached over and grabbed the remote to turn the television on. "Anything you want to watch?"

"Is Naked and Afraid on?"

Frank's eyes lit up at the mentioning of the show, he checked the channel to find that it was coming on in five minutes. "It's coming on soon." Gerard rested his legs on Frank's lap as they waited for Naked and Afraid to come on.

Frank opened his pop-tart and began munching away at it. Sweet Pea came in and hopped onto the couch and made herself fit on the little bit of space left on Frank's lap. He looked over to Gerard and noticed he wasn't eating. "Are you seriously not going to feed yourself?"

"I mean, I would if you didn't make it so damn hot," he laughed, lazily stirring the steaming oatmeal in his bowl.

Frank laughed, "Whoops." He gave Sweet Pea a piece of his pop-tart.

"But are you okay?"

"Yeah," Frank said. "Why?" Gerard gave him a look. "I'm still sad about it, yeah, but I can't just hide away from everything. He was happy and that's all that matters to me now."

He could see Gerard smiling at him and he smiled back. "My grandma was happy too." Frank rested his hand on Gerard's shin and rubbed it comfortingly.

"And that's all that matters," Frank said. Gerard couldn't help but nod his head in agreement.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Weeks went by and Frank slowly returned to his normal routine and got back to being almost as chipper as before. He still had days where his Grandfather's death just suddenly implanted itself in his mind. Sometimes it would get him so upset he wouldn't be able to bring himself to go to work. Gerard would end up calling in for him when he wouldn't come out of his room when he normally does. After that he'd go in his room to check on him and make sure he was okay. He'd lay with him and tell him reassuring things. Gerard was good for making him feel better. He always knew what to say and how to say it.

Frank was lucky he was as hard working as he is. His job loved him and they wouldn't trade him for anything. They didn't mind him taking off a day here and there to just recover. His boss understood how hard it was to lose someone important to him. However, his boss did make sure to tell him to not make a habit of it. They weren't cutting him that much slack.

Today was another one of Frank's days off. He was going to go in for over time, but he already had plans. Frank, Gerard, Pete, Brendon, Bob, and possibly Patrick were going to hit up some bars. Pete tries to get Patrick involved more but he's an extremely anxious person. He always apologizes for it when he sees them all again. And he's always told the same thing, not to worry about it, they understood.

Frank was getting ready and so was Gerard. Gerard came into Frank's room with a tooth brush in his mouth, he looked a bit funny with all the foam around his mouth. He took the tooth brush out to speak, "Hey, do you–don't laugh!" He scolded jokingly when Frank shoulders started shaking slightly as he tried not to laugh. He covered his mouth to hide his grin. Gerard rolled his eyes, "Rude, anyways. Do you think I'd look good with red hair?"

Frank looked him up and down. He could totally see him with red hair. "Oh yeah," he nodded. "I think red would be a great color on you," he said, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

Gerard smiled, the tooth paste foam still around his mouth. Frank began to laugh again. "Fucking hell, Frank! I'll come back when you can take me seriously," he grumbled walking back to the bathroom.

A few minutes later he came back out, and Frank was definitely taking him more seriously now. He was dressed in a black long sleeve button up that was tucked into a pair of black thigh hugging skinny jeans. He had a belt on and he still needed to put on shoes. "As I was saying," he started. "I'm thinking about maybe dying my hair an extremely vibrant red and cutting the sides a bit, how do you think I'd work that?"

"Amazing," Frank said with a bit of a dreamy tone to his voice. Gerard blushed a bit and thanked him quietly. Frank couldn't help but think he creeped him out a bit. He mentally face palmed himself and continued on fixing his hair. He closed his door and locked it so he could change.

He put on a black v-neck t-shirt along with a pair of black skinny jeans with holes in the knees. He put on his nose and lip piercing and fussed with his hair a little more. He threw on a pair of socks along with some converse sneakers and he was basically done. He walked out into the living room, "Gee, are you ready?"

Gerard looked up from the couch and nodded. "Born ready," he responded with a smirk. Frank's phone vibrated in his pocket, and gave an impressed nod at Brendon's perfect timing.

"Brendon's here now," Frank said grabbing his keys and Gerard grabbed his. He was thinking about making his key into a necklace. They both went outside to his car and hopped in.

"Oh you brought a van this time?" He asked after greeting everyone, surprised to see Patrick there. He got himself situated in the second set of seats with Gerard sitting next to him. 

"Yeah, Dallon let me borrow it after I um.. won a bet," he gave Frank a smile that clearly said to not ask about it.

"Right, a bet," he mocked, making everyone laugh. "Hey Patrick, it's been a while," Frank smiled.

Patrick gave him a small smile back, "Hey.."

"This is my friend Gerard, I swear he's nice," he reassured.

Gerard looked back to the third row and contorted his body a bit to reach out and give him a handshake. "Nice to meet you," he said with a kind smile. Gerard could see Patrick visibly relax a little. Frank could tell Pete was trying to do inappropriate things with him by the way Patrick would mutter stop and stuff like that. Eventually he heard a smacking sound and that's when he turned his head.

"Thank you for the concussion, asshole," Pete said to Bob.

Bob sighed, "Don't be a little bitch."

He scoffed, "Excuse me, Mr-Fucking-Hammer-Hands?"

"Now, now, guys," Brendon chimed in from the front seat, looking through his mirror. "Pete keep your hands to yourself, Bob you can gently slap Pete if his hands are roaming towards innocent bystanders."

"I didn't do anything! He was–"

"Don't act like I didn't see you molesting Patrick," Brendon cut in. "Poor guy–and you two, don't laugh what do you think this is?"

Frank and Gerard ended up laughing even harder. Brendon rolled his eyes but they didn't miss the smile on his face once the light turned green and he became focused on the road.

Eventually they pulled up to a club with a bunch of flashy neon lights. Gerard was talking to Patrick because he could tell how nervous he was, and Frank was off somewhere talking to the rest of the guys as they walked into the club after paying the entree fee. Brendon had already provided him with a fake ID the second time they partied because Gerard was one year too young to drink legally. And Frank already had himself one because, well, he's been doing this shit for ages. "See, what I recommend is–I know, normally this would be terrible advice–but since you're here, I'll recommend it anyway. But I say you should have yourself a few drinks. I know, you told me you're not a big drinker–like it's not like something you're against because if it is, I'll shut up."

Patrick shook his head, "No nothing like that."

"Okay, sweet. So yeah, you don't have to get outright wasted. But just drink a little to calm your nerves. Maybe a beer or two, like you don't have to down it, just y'know sip at it, nurture it." He said. Patrick nodded along as Gerard lead them to the bar stools to sit down. "Cause trust me, I hate crowds too, probably not to the extent that you do,   
but enough that I want to drink as soon as I get into a place like this," Gerard explained. "So what do you want to drink?"

"I'll have what you have," he responded.

"You sure?" He asked. Patrick nodded, "Okay," he ordered them drinks with the bit of money he managed to gather selling some of his art. Since it was getting warmer out he decided he should start bringing in some sort of income so he'd go out with Sweet Pea and a very eye attracting sign and stand by a busy area and sell his art. On the first day he noted he probably shouldn't display gory pictures too often, but he found that people really liked bodies of water, silhouettes, flowers, and skylines of the city. He figured they just wanted something soothing and would give them a sense of peace. Occasionally he'd throw in a gory picture but it wasn't very often because they were almost never sold but he would still want to give them a shot. But if they weren't sold, Frank would always happily claim them. He's got himself a small collection of pictures that Gerard made for him personally and others that he knew would probably never get sold.

Their drinks were served and the rest of the guys eventually met them at the counter. Frank not quite making it to take his claim to a seat next to Gerard. And ended up two seats away from him. Frank gave him a long suffering look. "Patrick really took a liking to Gerard, huh?" Pete asked mostly to himself.

Frank nodded, watching the two, "He has that affect on people," he laughed.

"I noticed," he agreed. "He's a great guy."

"No kidding."

"So what, you guys got anything going on yet?" Pete asked, making sure to keep his voice quiet enough that only Frank could hear.

Frank rolled his eyes, he knew this was coming eventually. "No," he admitted.

"What are you beating around the bush for, it's clear that you both are extremely into each other."

"Well, shit, I mean.. what if he isn't?" Frank asked.

Pete rolled his eyes and ordered them a drink. "Trust me, he is," Pete insisted. "I know you were talking about him being a very touchy person that one time," he explained. "And you may think it means nothing, but the way he hugs you and stuff like that has so much more meaning that how he hugs us."

"And how can you tell?"

"You don't see how happy he looks when he hugs you, everyone can see it," he answered. "Except you." Frank rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink. "If anything, get him before someone else does." He saw way Frank's face changed once Pete said that. "Don't like the thought of that do you?"

Frank shook his head, "Not at all."

"Then don't keep waiting."

"Are you a wise drunk?"

"Nah dude, I'm just getting started," Pete said, then took maybe four seconds flat to down his entire cup. Shortly after, he ordered himself another cup of beer. Pete burped loudly then started drinking his next cup.

"Dude, that's fucking disgusting."

"Shut up and let me assert my dominance as a man," he said. "I'm trying to attract my mate." Frank began laughing uncontrollably. "Patrick! Babe!" He called. Patrick looked towards that direction and held up on finger telling him to wait. Pete rolled his eyes, "Well then.."

"He has more important things to do," Frank joked.

"He only does me," he responded.

Frank laughed and rolled his eyes, "That's not what I mean–"

"I know, but it is what I meant. "

Eventually Patrick did come over. Pete pulled him into a hug from behind and kiss the space behind his ear, "You drank a little?" He asked resting his head on Patrick's shoulder.

Patrick nodded and hummed, "Just a little."

Frank took this moment to prepare to take the seat that Patrick was previously occupying to find that it was already taken by some other guy. Pete laughed, "Gotta be quicker than that."

Frank rolled his eyes and sat himself back down and watch the two conversate. He could tell Gerard was a bit uncomfortable by the way his demeanor changed. Eventually, a hand went on Gerard's thigh and that sent red blaring alarms off in Frank's head and he got up. He walked to Gerard without a plan, however his first instinct was the wrap an arm around his shoulder. As soon as that was done, the guy who was talking to him gave Gerard a confused look. Frank swallowed his and just decided to go with whatever came to mind. "Hey babe, who's this guy?" Gerard gave him a look and Frank returned it with one that said, just go with it. He turned his head to the guy with his hand on Gerard's thigh. He looked at his hand then back up at him. "You wanna get your hand off my boyfriend?"

As Frank was talking Gerard could feel his face heating up a bit. "Oh, uh, sorry," the guy said immediately retracting his hands. Frank pressed a kiss to his cheek just to make it a bit more believable. The guy left his seat and Frank took it.

"Sorry if I overdid it," Frank laughed awkwardly.

"You overdo a lot of thing," Gerard said laughing. "But I wouldn't be where I am today if you hadn't overdid your act of kindness." Frank shamefully agreed, immediately reflecting back on when he gave Gerard a bath.

"Yeah.." He responded, bashfully.

"But I appreciate it though, great acting," Gerard laughed. "Did you drink anything?"

"I mean, I had a drink over there, but you can consider that no good now," Frank said. "Something my grandpa taught me was to never drink from the same cup you left behind in a bar."

Gerard nodded and took a sip of his own drink, "Good advice. Do you want another drink?"

"Ahh, I don't see why not," Frank called for the bar tender and asked for a beer.

"I had plans to pay for it, but okay," he laughed.

"Whoops," Frank thanked the bartender when he smoothly slid drink to him.

\--

Eventually the evening took a turn from them all just sipping at their drinks to taking shots. Gerard found that Frank was a very energized drunk and he really liked dancing. He ended up convincing Gerard to come onto the floor with him and dance.

Frank didn't really have any 'sick moves' as he insisted, but was convinced he was a great dancer. Once the dancing became too much, Gerard went to lay down even if that did mean he'd have to occupy an unused table. He didn't know where Patrick and Pete went off too. Brendon didn't drink, he was the one driving them all home and Bob was somewhere playing one of the old pinball games.

The night wasn't crazy, but it definitely was a hassle on Brendon's behalf when he decided enough was enough. First, he got Gerard off that table he was laying on. He leaded him to the car and prayed to God that he didn't vomit. He even went as far as to put on the child safety locks. He got Pete and Patrick from the bathroom who were just making out, luckily they weren't too drunk. Well, not Pete anyways. However, PDA was totally out of character for Patrick.

Brendon just told Pete to get Patrick and himself to the car safely and to make sure Gerard was still in there and alive. Pete seemed to have control over most of his senses and Patrick was a stumbling drunken mess. Brendon didn't think Bob drank that much. He did have work in the morning after all. He saw him still at the pinball machine, "Bob!" He called. Bob looked over to him and Brendon waved him over. "We're about to leave!" Bob nodded and finished off his game walked over to him. "Can you help me find Frank, the fucker always insist on dancing in a crowd of people twice his size."

Bob snorted and looked through the crowd to see if he saw him. Eventually when just looking seemed to be no use, he decided to go in the crowd. After a while of calling Frank's name and squeezing through a bunch of sweaty people he finally found Frank who was still going strong. He was doing some wacky dance move, and now Bob understood he could never get anyone to dance with him back in high school.

He pulled Frank away from the crowd and heard him gasp in surprise. "Oh, B-Bob.. I thought y-you were someone else," he hiccuped.

"Nope, just Bob."

"Cool," he laughed lazily. "Where are we going?"

"Taking you guys home."

"Have you got Gee? Don't forget about Gee."

"I think he's in the car," Bob responded leading them towards Brendon. "Found him."

"Okay, sweet, let's go."

Once Gerard and Frank were returned home safely, Frank immediately passed out on the couch and Gerard took the foot of the floor. Sweet Pea walked into the living room seeming a bit confused that they weren't where they usually slept, but she didn't mind it so she decided to curl up next to Gerard.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Gerard woke up with his head spinning along with a pain in his back, "Fuck," he groaned as his slowly pushed himself off the floor. He noticed Frank was kind of asleep on the couch. His legs were sprawled across the floor and he seemed to be grasping into the pillow, hanging with dear life. He immediately went into the bathroom and grabbed some painkillers from the medicine cabinet and walked them to the kitchen. He poured himself a cup of tap water and took down two pills. He grabbed another two and put them on the small table besides the couch Frankie was laying on.

Gerard pushed his body onto the couch fully and threw a blanket over his body. He gently pushed Frank's hair out of his face and smiled at the serene look he had on his face while he slept. His headache was slowly dying down and he knew he had things he wanted to do, like buying red hair dye.

He walked into the bathroom checking himself out in the full body length mirror. He didn't seem to destroy his clothes last night–they were still wearable. He check his pockets, not feeling his wallet and he prayed to a higher being it was in Brendon's car. As if on cue, the phone was ringing. Gerard lightly jogged to the telephone and answered, "Hello?"

"Hey, Gee, did one of you guys leave your wallet in my car?"

Gerard sighed in relief, "Oh, thank goodness, it was me."

"Yeah, I have it, I was on my way to your guy's place, how's Frank holding up?"

"Still asleep," Gerard said sympathetically, knowing he's gonna be waking with a killer headache. He heard Brendon hum on the other line and Gerard could imagine him nodding. "Why are you coming here anyways?–Not that I mind."

Brendon laughed, "We're gonna hang out together, so I hope you're dressed."

"Uh, okay, yeah I'm dressed."

"Okay, I'll see you in five."

"Okay, see you then."

Gerard ripped a page out of his sketchbook and wrote a small note letting Frank know where he was gonna be and set it underneath the pain killers just to take the note back to tell him to make sure he took the pain killers.

Eventually there was a knock on the door and Gerard opened the door and greeted Brendon who was holding his wallet up. "Where are we going?" Gerard asked, taking his wallet and giving him as small thanks.

"What were your plans for today?" He asked.

Gerard rolled his eyes, "I would've expected you to have things planned," he scoffed playfully, putting his hands on his hips.

"I do, kind of," he responded. "But not really," Brendon started walking and Gerard followed him.

"Well I did want to buy some hair dye," he said.

"Well let's do that and we can dye your hair at my place while also talking about some important stuff."

"Important stuff?" Gerard asked, curiosity growing in his voice. "What important stuff?"

Brendon waved him off dismissively and hushed him as they got left out the apartment building and walked to the car.

They drove to the hair store with the music blasting, and Brendon would occasionally sing or complain about a certain song's lyrics or something. Once they got to the hair salon Gerard quickly found what he needed and they were on their way to Brendon's place.

"That's some bright red you got," Brendon laughed as he opened up his door.

Gerard smiled and nodded. "I like red."

"So yeah, I don't know how to do hair dying stuff but I know how to read instructions."

Gerard gave him a bit of a skeptical look, "Eh.. I can do it by myself you can just keep me company."

"Love the confidence you have in me."

Gerard laughed, "I don't wanna risk anything, don't take it personally." He looked around trying to spot Brendon's kitchen. "Where's your kitchen?"

"Follow me," Brendon said leading him to the direction of the kitchen and when they were in he sighed in relief, "Thought I forgot to wash the dishes."

Gerard set his bag down and pulled out the supplies, and Brendon sat at the kitchen table, "So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Frank," he responded, Gerard nodded his head telling him to go on as he prepared himself to. Brendon sighed, feeling as though he were going through a bit of a internal conflict, not sure if telling him would ruin things or make things good, great even. He could almost say he was more than sure it would be the latter.

The pause Brendon had worried Gerard a bit. He looked over towards him as he put his gloves on. "Brends?"

"Oh uh," he hummed for a moment and just decided to wing it. "Frank, uh, Frank likes you y'know." He said.

Gerard could feel himself completely still. The blood has rushed to his cheeks and a moment later he hesitantly ask him, "How do you know..?"

"Well.. Besides the fact that he told me, it was obvious."

"Really?" Gerard asked his tone kind of breathy and dreamy. He had a bit of a goofy smile on his face, as he raked his hands through his hair with his plastic glove covered fingers.

Brendon nodded confidently, "So.. Do you like him..?"

Gerard nodded almost immediately, "Y-yeah!" He responded like it should've been obvious. He mixed up the bleaching products and did the hair dying products in a separate container.

"Good, cause I'm fucking sick of you guys looking at each other like you do but not doing anything about it. You've gotta talk to him."

Gerard nodded frantically, "Of course, yeah," he responded, he felt a bit of a confidence boost now that he knew Frank liked him. He grabbed the brush and started apply the bleach into his hair from the tips to the roots of his hair.

\--

Eventually his hair was fully dyed and during the time Brendon was giving him idea of how to ask Frank out, a bunch of them ended up being unreasonable or too sexual for Gerard to deal with, he also helped Gerard cut the sides of his hair and he had to stare at himself for awhile before he got used to the change. "Holy shit it looks a lot better than I expected," Brendon... Complimented?

"Thanks," Gerard laughed as Brendon inspected him.

"Yeah it looks really good." Brendon said. "I think Frank's gonna be into it." That immediately got Gerard blushing. "Let's take you back home."

"I don't know if I'm ready," Gerard muttered.

"You've got this Gee," Brendon patted him on the shoulder and pushed him to the direction of his door. "Nothing will go wrong, the odds are literally all in your favor–and if he says no Frank just missed an opportunity or a lifetime because I know his dumbass likes you a lot."

Gerard giggled and Brendon walked in front of him to open the door. "Thank you again, Brendon."

"No problem, Gee."

\--

Gerard was now by himself in front of his and Frank's apartment. He couldn't help but feel extremely self conscious about his hair. He did get a few stares from outside of his complex, he didn't care about those. He knew Frank said he thought he would look good with red hair, but what if what he was thinking wasn't the same as Gerard looked.

He knew he should go inside eventually but he was extremely nervous. He kept telling himself what Brendon told him–that the odds were all in his favor. But he still couldn't bring himself to open the door. That was all ruined once he heart Sweet Pea sniffing at the door. On the other side he could hear Frank going, "Who's there girl? Is there someone at the door?" In that cute doggy voice he made while speaking to her. He could hear footsteps coming closer and closer to the door. Gerard desperately wanted to book it down the hall but he stood firmly in his spot as the door opened revealing Frank with Sweet Pea in his arms. "Holy shit," was the first thing that came out of Frank's mouth. For a while the two of them just stared at each other until Frank broke the silence. "You look amazing," he said.

Gerard's cheeks warmed up and he thanked him, "Uh, hey can we talk?"

Frank gave him a confused look but nodded and moved aside so Gerard  
could come in. "What's up?" He asked taking a seat next to Gerard and letting Sweet Pea down and she immediately hopped into Gerard's lap excitedly.

He let her sit there as he pat her, getting her to calm down. "Well somebody told me something," he started. That worried Frank a bit–was someone talking crap about them or saying he was talking crap about Gerard? He could tell how nervous Gerard was by how tense he seemed. He was looking down at his lap and was gently gnawing on his lower lip as he gently stroked Sweet Pea' fur. "And I heard you liked me.." He said, finally looking at Frank. His stare was intense with a few other emotions swirling in his hazel eyes.

Frank swore he felt his heart stop, "I um, uh–" He stammered before Gerard cut him off.

"And I wanted you to know I liked you too."

Frank felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders, and his mouth went dry. "Really?" He croaked.

"Yeah," Gerard responded his voice barely above a whisper. Sweet Pea hopped out of his lap and roamed around the house. They could feel themselves leaning in and then they shared their first kiss towards each other. Both of their slipped eyes shut and Frank's hand slowly inched their way to cup Gerard's cheek. The kiss was closed mouth, but sweet and passionate.

"So who told you about this crush I have?" He asked after they parted from the kiss, their faces barely an inch apart and Frank's hand still rested on Gerard's cheek.

Gerard chuckled lightly, "Context clues, Frankie. I left you a note." He pecked him on the lips and sat in a more comfortable position.

"Brendon? I would've expected Pete."

"Yes, it was Brendon," he confirmed laughing a bit.

"Remind me to thank him," Frank said immediately laying down and resting head in Gerard's lap. "To make this officially official, do you want to be my boyfriend?"

"Of course," Gerard responded. He leant down and pressed a kiss to his boyfriends lips, feeling as though he couldn't get enough of the feeling of Frank's lips on his own. They stayed like that for a while, Gerard's lips slowly moving against his and vise versa. Occasionally removing they're lips from each other with a gentle smack, only to kiss again.

One of Gerard's hands were rested on Frank's chin and the other placed on the top of his head, his fingers playing with his hair. Gerard finally sat up after one last peck. Smiling slightly at the disappointed face Frank made. "God, I feel so lucky." Frank breathed, closing his eyes.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut!

Frank and Gerard were happier than ever with their newly established relationship. They couldn't keep their hands off of each other. They were a week into dating and no one knew besides Brendon. Thirty minutes after Gerard asked him out, he texted them asking how they were doing, so Frank just spilled.

Gerard was at home like he usual, just playing with Sweet Pea, maybe cleaning, maybe drawing. He didn't cook tonight because they had left overs from the night before. So today he could just mostly relax.

His red hair was still growing on him, but Frank took an immediate liking to it. Whenever they made out Frank's hands would usually go straight to his hair to gently tug on the strands. Gerard absolutely loved that. He also loved messing with his lip ring while they kissed. He would gently suck on it or if they're just messing around, teasing each other, he would catch his lip ring in between his teeth and tug on it.

Speaking of the devil—Frank walked into their apartment, desperately wanting to smash his lips into his boyfriend's. With only one week of dating, he wasn't sure if they were on aggressive love making terms yet. He settled for a stressed out sigh and leaned his back against the door. His gorgeous boyfriend–who he felt incredibly blessed to have–poked his head from the doorway of the kitchen and smiled gently at him. Gerard approached him, wearing the same smile and greeted him with a kiss. He melted into the kiss immediately, Gee's soft pink lips almost dissolving his stressful work day.

"How was work?" Gee asked, his arms wrapped around Frank protectively. He gently rubbed circles into his sides with the pads of his thumb.

Frank began to babble on about his day, eventually becoming a stuttering and stammering mess when he got to focused on the kisses Gerard was planting all over his face and neck. "Gee.. I can't concentrate when you're doing this to me," he whined, Gerard tongue trailed from his jawline to his ear, gently nibbling on the lobe.

Gerard went back to his neck pressing a small kiss to it before responding with, "I can," into his neck, his words warm and breathy against Frank's neck sending a shiver down his spine.

His teeth grazed over the scorpion on his neck and he gently bit down on the flesh. Frank sucked in a breath which was soon followed by a satisfied sigh. He let his eyes slip shut as he tilted his head back some to give Gerard easy access to his neck.

He gently sucked on the skin, fully intent on leaving a mark. Gerard pressed his boyfriend closer to the door and Frank pulled him in closer.

They were now forehead to forehead, both looking at each other with adoring eyes. Frank pressed a quick kiss to Gerard's lips. "How's Sweet Pea?" He asked, almost forgetting about his little girl. She fell sick not too long ago, and was laying in her bed most of the time. Occasionally she'd get up eat some, do her business, sometimes not making it to her training pad.

"She's getting better," Gerard responded, pressing another kiss to his lips, only to be caught by another one almost immediately. He smiled, bringing his hand up to smooth out Frank's hair. "Getting up more, eating more, she attempts to play with me sometimes before she gets too tired."

The shorter man smiled brightly, a gorgeous smile, Gerard thought. He always thought Frank had a gorgeous smile. Wide, innocent, and happy. He couldn't help but grin in response, then proceeded to kiss the peck of his nose. He seen a hue of pink lightly coat Frank's cheek, as he smiled bashfully.

Gerard noticed that Frank treasured the small things, like nose, forehead, and cheek kisses. Frank giggled and have him one back making Gerard smile.

Frank slipped himself from in between the door and Gee, "Where you going?" Gerard asked following behind him.

"I need to see my little baby," he gushed, calling Sweet Pea's name soon after the statement.

"She's in the kitchen," he said, walking in there seeing her still eating.

"Hi baby!" He gushed, she immediately began waggling her tail and trying to hop onto him. He picked her up, giggling as she frantically wriggled in his arms. "Feelin' better, love?" Her tail was wagging rapidly and she constantly tried to lick his face. Gerard smiled gently at the scene, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. Frank patted her and hugged her closely, looking as happy as can be. Eventually he let her down, and she continued eating, seeming to try and rejuvenate herself.

Not too long after his lips were on Gerard's again, pressing him to the wall. Gerard turned them around, pushing him somewhat roughly against the wall. Frank let out a small moan as his back came in contact with it. He pressed his lips against Frank's like it was it source of life.

Frank's arms were squished in between their chest. He loved the feeling of Gerard taking control over him. He held Frank in his arms, slowly leading them from the wall to the bedroom, never detaching from the kiss. Frank was soon able to slide his arms up and wrap them around the back of his boyfriend's neck.

Gerard felt Frank's back hit the door to the bedroom and he reached out to turn the knob, leading the both of them in. He gently laid Frank onto the bed, "You wanna do this?" Gerard asked gently, hoping he'd get the gist of what he meant.

He nodded his head frantically, "Yeah, yeah," he breathed. He reached out for Gerard who immediately dived in for another kiss before his hand ran down to the waist band of his jeans and creeping his hands underneath his shirt, feeling the warm flesh on his finger tips.

"Is it weird that this will be the first time I see you shirtless?"

Frank huffed a laugh, "Really?"

Gerard nodded and got up, Frank sat up to let him tug his shirt off, making Frank shiver as he did so because his finger tips were gently trailing up his sides as he removed the material.

He couldn't help but gaze lustfully at all the tattoos the littered his body. "Fuck Frank.." He ran his hands up and down his boyfriend's body, shocked by all the art that covered him. He pressed a kiss to the one that read hope right below his nipple. "God, what did I do to deserve you..?" He asked himself.

Frank's hand was in Gerard hair as he slowly began to press kisses down his stomach, making his way to his navel. He popped the button open on Frank's jeans, then pulled them down, exposing his tattooed covered thighs. He pulled the jeans from around his ankles, Frank now rested on his elbows, watching Gerard's every move.

Gerard licked the inside of Frank's thigh, "Ah.." He moaned. He cupped the bulge in his underwear. "You gonna fuck me?" He asked, his voice husky and low.

"Yeah," Gerard responded breathily. He kiss him before the elastic band of his boxer briefs and tugged those off as well. He heard Frank gasp once Gee wrapped his lips around his dick.

"Fuck," he moaned once Gerard began to bob his head up and down. He was gently massaging his balls, and would occasionally flicking his tongue over the slit, tasting the bitterness of the precum. Gerard soon stopped sucking him off, hearing him whine desperately. "C'mon gee I need more," he begged.

"I'll give it to you, babe. Just be patient," he mumbled pressing a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. Frank turned his head to capture his lips entirely and reached his hands down to get rid of his boyfriend's pants.

"Fuckin' fully dressed and 'm not," he mumbled against his lips, still fiddling with the button.

"Here," Gerard said, sensing Frank was having trouble with his button. He got up stripping himself almost entirely, besides his underwear. He fitted himself between Frank's thighs and ran his finger against his hole teasingly. Frank mewled, his back arching at the pleasure shooting down his spine. "Where's your lube?" He asked.

"In the drawer," Frank breathed. Gerard could see the rise and fall in his belly, his stomach sinking in deep and rising up tall with every deep breath he took. Gee pressed a kiss to his warm stomach then reached into the nightstand seeing a small bottle of lube. He squeezed some of it on his fingers, and rubbed it in. "Make it quick," Frank muttered breathlessly.

Gerard smirked, "Patience, Frankie," he cooed softly. "I'm gonna make you feel so good, baby," He whispered huskily against his ear as he trailed his figure up the crevice of his ass, eventually finding his hole. He gently pushed in slightly seeing Frank stiffening a bit then immediately relaxing. He pressed a kiss to his boyfriend's neck and he let out a gorgeous moan.

He pushed his finger in some more and thrusted it in and out of his boyfriend slowly. His own erection was throbbing painfully in his underwear and he wanted nothing more than to be inside of his boyfriend already. Frank let out small whimpers and moans and it wasn't to long before he was begging for another finger.

Gerard slipped another digit in and began fingering him slowly, occasional spreading his two fingers. "Fuck Gee," he rasped, he felt so hot. He could feel a thin layer of sweat covering his body. "C'mon, I can take more," he encouraged.

Gerard nodded, his mouth gently grazing Frank's shoulder and he added in the last finger thrusting a few times before Frank was desperately pleading for his cock. "Please Gee," he groaned, rocking himself against Gerard's fingers. "Need you."

Gerard nodding lifted himself up and sat back on his heels. He remembered that his underwear was still on and he stood up for a moment to remove them. He fit himself in between Frank's thighs again. He pushed his boyfriend's legs apart. He leaned over him, feeling his hard cock press against his belly. He pressing one more kiss to his lips, soft and slow. Frank became engulfed into the kiss almost immediately.

Gerard got up, keeping steady eye contact with his boyfriend, all kinds of passionate emotions clear in his eyes. He lined himself up with Frank's entrance. And slowly pushed in. He groaned under his breath, as he when deeper and deeper. Frank's tattooed fingers were gripping the bed sheets desperately with an arched back and his face scrunched up. His boyfriend was well endowed for sure. He let out a relieved sigh once Gerard was all way in. "Are you okay?" He asked, leaning down to press a kiss to his boyfriend's face, that had a reddish hue to it that spread to his neck.

Frank nodded, breathing heavily, accepting the kiss. "You're just so big," he mumbled against his lips.

Gerard chuckled, pressed another quick kiss to his lips, then his neck, sucking at the skin that had already been marked by him multiple times. "Let me know when you're ready," he breathed against the crook of his neck. Frank shiver slightly, balling the sheets up into his fist. He let out a content sigh, feeling full and pleasure.

"Okay," Frank said once he fully adjusted. "You can move." Gerard started off slow, his boyfriend letting out a delicate moan with every thrust. "C'mon..harder.." He begged, a moan in between each word. Gerard nodded and began thrusting a bit harder, "Gee.." He whined. "Come on."

"Okay, okay," he said gently running his hand down his boyfriend's thigh. He fixed himself to a better angle and thrusted into Frank as hard and fast as he could.

Frank was chanting out small yeses and loud moans that pretty much turned to screaming once Gee found that one spot that knocked his head into clouds. The loud obscene noises coming from Frank's mouth were like music to Gerard's ears. He could feel his climax building. He closed his eyes and reached for Frank's cock to jerk him off. He pumped him nice and fast and it wasn't too long before the both of them were cumming just about everywhere. Laces of white sprayed all over the bed and their stomachs.

Gerard let himself fall over and kiss Frank roughly, "God, you amazing," he said after he parted from the kiss.

"So are you," Frank responded, holding steady eye contact before pulling Gee into another kiss, both their eyes slipping shut. This one was soft and slow, their tongues dancing together leisurely.

Eventually Gerard got up and grabbed a damp rag to wipe them down. Once he was done, Frank took the rag and threw it somewhere then pulled Gerard into the bed with him. "Gotta wash the blankets soon," Gerard mumbled and Frank got cozy in his arms. He felt Frank nod against his chest. He pressed a kiss to the top of Frank's black hair. And he felt one returned, but on his chest.

Eventually Frank's breathing patterns evened out and Gerard could only assume Frank fell asleep, which he did too shortly after.


	19. Chapter 19

"Guess who's birthday it almost is," Frank said, walking into the bathroom were Gerard had a towel around his waist as he did his hair getting ready for the job he recently got, finding that selling his art wasn't bringing in enough income. He still had plans to do it, but a job would probably be a good idea until he got more popular with his work. Frank wrapped his arms around his waist from behind, rising onto his toes a bit to press a kiss behind his ear.

Gerard smiled slightly, turning himself around, facing Frank who was still holding him. He pressed a soft and delicate kiss to Frank's lips making the other man hum and slip his eyes shut. "Mine," he responds.

"I hope you have your birthday suit ready," he grinned mischievously, giving Gerard a much rougher kiss.

"Mm, what I'm wearing now is just a preview," he mumbled against his lips, soon speaking clearly once Frank let him breathe. Frank hands immediately went to the towel, ripping it off of him. "Looks like you've just spoiled the best part of the party for yourself," Gerard said, looking down at the towel that dropped around his ankles.

Frank pressed himself up against Gerard's thigh, making his erection evident to him. "I don't mind spoilers on occasions like these," he responded, gently nipping at his boyfriend's bottom lip.

"I jerked off in the shower so I could avoid wanting to do anything else with you," Gerard grinned, like an asshole, Frank thought.

He sighed disappointedly, "I fucking hate your job."

Gerard cackled and Frank let him go and began to walk out before Gerard grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back in to kiss him. "I'll blow you later," he promised, whispering hotly into his ear holding Frank to him closely. He felt Frank shiver against him and he smirked then let him go. His boyfriend stared scornfully at him, and walked out the bathroom only to get his ass slapped playfully as he made his way out. Frank didn't hesitate to give him the finger. Gerard laughed to himself and faced the mirror again to finish his hair then got dressed.

\--

Gerard got paid again and just about every check he's gotten so far, he never failed to buy something sweet for Frank. Flowers, candy, just anything to make him smile. Today he got Frank a necklace. It was a simple silver necklace, it had a heart with Sweet Pea's name engraved into one side and Gerard's name on the other and he also got one for himself with Sweet Pea on one side but Frank's name on the other. All of it together cost around seventy five dollars.

He soon arrived home, Frank had a day off. Now that they both had jobs it was a lot harder to spend time together. When he got inside Frank was laying on the couch, watching something on the TV with Sweet Pea on his chest. He smiled and closed the door behind him. Frank looked up and grinned, "Hey baby, how was your day?" He got up carefully and Sweet Pea got the hint and jumped off. He wrapped his arms around Gerard and hugged him like he hasn't seen him in years.

Gerard gently pressed a kiss to his forehead. "It was quick," he smiled, moving Frank's messy hair from covering his eyes. "I have something for you," he said. "Close your eyes."

Frank frowned but did so anyway. Gerard pulled the necklace out of his pocket and looped the necklace around his neck. As soon as the heart on the jewelry touched his chest his hand immediately reached up to touch it as Gerard put on his own. "A necklace?" He asked, looking at the heart, smiling when he seen the names that meant the most to him on it. He smashed his lips into Gerard's, feeling like he just got proposed to. "I'm never taking this off," he stated.

Gerard grinned and gave him a quick peck on the lips, "I would hope not." He pulled Frank in closer to him. "About what I said earlier," he smirked seductively and Frank's dick was immediately at attention. Gerard closed the gap in between their faces into a long, slow, and rough kiss. Frank didn't even bother trying to dominate when Gerard's tongue slipped into his mouth roaming all over. He tasted like coffee as usual, but the kisses still always felt new and refreshing, while also feeling familiar at the same time.

Gerard gently sucked on his lower lip, his hands roaming all over Frank's over clothed body. He slipped his hands under Frank's shirt and ran his hands up the warm tattooed skin. He sighed gently. Gerard turned them around so Frank's back was against the door and suddenly dropped to his knees. He could already see the tenting bulge in his boyfriend's sweat pants and pull them down finding that Frank wasn't even wearing underwear, when he immediately came face to face with his cock. He grinned looking up at Frank. "You were prepared."

He smirked, "Always." He ran his hand through Gerard's bright red hair that he dyed again recently because the color was fading. It wasn't long after that Gerard got to business with Frank's hand still entangled with his hair. He gently licked the tip first, tasting the bitter precum on his tongue.

Frank moaned quietly, his grip in Gerard's hair tightening slightly. Frank guided Gerard's open mouth onto his cock. He loved it when Gerard would let him control his movements when he was sucking his dick. Frank remembered asking about his practically nonexistent gag reflect and he blamed it on his lack of tonsils making Frank laugh loudly. But he's was too turned on to laugh about the memory now as Gerard almost got to the base of his cock. His eyes were wide and glossy staring back at him, his throat tightening around his erection as he swallowed around him. Frank made a really loud obscene noise, that tactic of Gerard always almost sending him over the edge. He began to bob his head back and forth, occasionally swirling his tongue around the head. Frank would let out breathy moans every now and then, also while encouraging Gerard to go faster or something.

He pulled off for a second and sucked his fingers into his mouth and coated them with spit as best as he could. He took Frank's cock back into his mouth wrapping one hand around the base and using the other to finger him slowly. Frank was bucking into his mouth shamelessly because he knew his boyfriend could take it. He came into Gerard's mouth with a long groan. Eventually took his mouth off still stroking Frank through his orgasm, a little bit more cum leaking out and he didn't hesitate to lick it right off the tip of his now flaccid dick. He gently kissed the head and got off his knees then smashed his lips into Frank's.

Frank unbuttoned Gerard's work slacks and took a hold of his erected dick and stroked him slowly as they made out. Gerard was whimpering and moaning into the kiss, his dick finally getting the attention it needed. He eventually ended up sucking a big hicky onto the side of Frank's neck. With a few more strokes he was cumming into Frank's hand, his teeth roughly but also gently biting down onto his bottom lip. It wasn't enough to hurt him but if he hadn't already had an orgasm he might've gotten aroused from it. They made out by the door for a while longer, sloppy, hot, and slow.

They took a shower together soon after, it was mostly a lot of kissing and Frank gave Gerard a few hickies. Dark purplish red marks on his chest and neck. When they got out of the shower Gerard finally managed to look at himself and scolded Frank for all the hickies. "Frank, what the hell?" He asked Frank wrapped his hands around his waist, much like they were this morning and grinning, looking at Gerard through the mirror. He knew Gerard wasn't really mad, in fact it looked like he was holding back a small smile.

"It looks good on you," Frank complimented as Gerard ran his thumb over the one on his collar bone. "I think you need more." He suggested pressing his lips against his boyfriend's back and then went from a sweet kiss to biting and sucking on the skin making Gerard gasp, and protest but generally he didn't do anything about it. Once Frank was done he pressed a kiss to the back of Gerard's neck. This time all it was was a kiss.

"You're the worst," Gerard said, despite the fact that he was blushing really hard.

"You love it," Frank responded.

Gerard grinned, one of his hands going over Frank's hands, "Yeah."

After that they ate dinner, Frank said he tried to cook but it wasn't working out so he ordered Chinese. Gerard smiled and laughed at him but applauded him for his effort anyway. Through dinner Frank asked Gerard about his day at work, but he was still in training so it was mostly boring. Sweet Pea was in the kitchen eating her food too. Frank told him that he taught her how to play dead. "Look! Watch," he said excitedly. "Sweet Pea," he called immediately getting her to face him. He held out finger guns and pointed them at her and she pretended to look shocked for a moment. "Bang!" He said, 'firing' the shot and she fell over.

Gerard grinned and tapped his ankle while making kissy noises to her to get her to come to him. She did so excitedly wagging her tail. He pat her, "Good girl," he cooed. Frank was looking them pridefully as he ate his noodles.

"Hey, Pete wants us to go on a double date with him and Patrick this weekend..." Frank stated, twirling his fork in his noodles.

Gerard hummed nodding, "What did he have in mind?"

"Movies or something."

He grinned, "That sounds good, do you wanna go?"

Frank shrugged, "I like spending the days off we have together with you," he complained with an adorable slightly whiny tone in his voice and a cute pout.

Gerard blushed slightly, with a small smile. He grabbed Frank's hand and gently pressed his lips against it. "It's only one day," he said. "And we can spend the rest of it together, just us." Frank gave him those sad puppy eyes that he managed to perfect. "Frankie, just one day," he reasoned, not letting himself succumb to that face like he usually does.

"Fine," he groaned, Gerard smiled and kissed him from the other side of the table. Frank sighed into the kiss. They finished their dinner, and went to bed. They spent a lot of the time talking and kissing. Frank felt he honestly couldn't have found anyone better to date. No one had ever made him feel the way Gerard did ever in his life. They soon fell asleep in each other's arms after one last goodnight kiss.


	20. Chapter Twenty

When Gerard woke up, he found it really difficult to leave the house, with both Frank and Sweet Pea whining as soon as he picked up his keys. He didn't want to leave but he knew he had to. Frank was probably going to stop by his job at some point, hopefully. He gave him one last kiss for the day until he got back in the evening.

"You should take the day off," Frank suggested. "We should take the day off." He pressed Gerard's back against the door kissing him slowly.

He wanted to, he really did. For fuck sake why wouldn't he want to? He wanted to spend every waking moment with this man. But he couldn't. He had a job to get to. And that's when he had a moment of enlightenment. He loved Frank. "I can't baby, I'm sorry, I gotta make the best impression I can for as long as I can, I haven't had this job long," he sighed caressing his cheeks, then pressed a kiss to his forehead, smiling at the blush that rose on his cheeks. "I... I love you," he stammered out, "I really fucking love you."

Frank looked at him with wide eyes, both surprised and happy. A second later a huge grin broke out onto his face. "Oh my god, I love you too." He felt like he was going to cry, he was so happy. "Why'd you have to say it before you left?" He whined. He reached for both of Gerard's hands grabbing them to squeeze on them gently. He really wanted to stay home with him now. He wanted to lay with him and just talk to him, kiss him and be near him.

Gerard shook his head, the offer was really tempting but he had to go to work. He kissed Frank one more time, "I love you and I have to go, I'll see you tonight."

Frank sighed sadly but told him he loves him too. Gerard went out the door, he jogged down the hall. He had to be at work in under fifteen minutes. I can totally make it, he thought to himself.

It was too long before he made it to work. On time, with only a minute to spare. "That was a close call Mister Way," his boss Jamia tutted playfully. He laughed breathlessly, having ran here made him tired.

"Yeah, it was hard getting out of the house!" He responded.

She laughed with him, "Oh yeah? Try telling me when you have a girlfriend and two kids—a third one on the way."

"My situation is similar," he grinned. "A boyfriend and a dog, but you're pregnant?" He asked with a surprised tone, walking into the EMPLOYEES ONLY area.

"Well not me. My girlfriend is. We got a sperm donor and she wanted to carry the baby since I already carried two in my life time," she explained, chuckling lightly. She couldn't wait for their little baby to come.

"That's... That's amazing," he sighed dreamily. He wondered what life with kids would be like for him. Or maybe more dogs. He thought Frank would like that. Another dog. He's going to get Frank a puppy on his next paycheck.

"Yeah, she's amazing," she looked like she was in her own little world thinking about her beautiful girlfriend. "How's the boyfriend?" She asked, not really wanting to mention him getting to work just yet. She enjoyed talking to him.

"I love him," he responded immediately. "He's so amazing, I can't wait to get back home to him."

Jamia held back the urge to squeal, "Aw, that's so cute!" She gushed. "Well, the sooner you get to work the quicker your day goes by," she joked.

"Oh right! Sorry," he muttered.

She shook her head dismissively, "No no, it's fine, I enjoyed this," she said.

"Me too," he responded then changed into his work shirt and made his way to the cash register.

\--

Gerard was so relieved when the day was finally over. He was locking up the store tonight. "See you Monday, Gerard!" His coworker Dallon said, who also happened to be Brendon's boyfriend. He thought the name was familiar when he first introduced himself. He was a great guy and thought they were lucky to have each other.

"Yeah, Monday," he called as Dallon walked out of the store. He walked through the aisles, making sure everything was clean and in its place. He soon went outside and pulled down the shutters and locked it.

As he twister the key, he heard a voice that sounded scarily familiar. "You guys closin' already?" The voice slurred. He didn't dare to look back. He wasn't ready to see him yet. He could feel his legs begin to tremble, rather than the anger he expected himself to feel whenever he encountered him again. He wasn't ready to see his father yet. "Hey!"

"We-we're closing," he stammered out, finally looking back just to confirm that it was his father.

"Shit!" He cursed, finally taking in Gerard's face. "Wait.. You're–" Gerard took off, going as fast as his legs could take him. He got a really bad feeling as soon as his father recognized him. He heard a car door slam behind him and the engine go off. Shit, he thought. "You son of a bitch!" His dad yelled. "I told everyone you were dead!"

Gerard's heart dropped, as he turned down an alley way and it seemed his father knew where he was going when he was shortly met up with on the other side of the block. He could feel his legs wanting to give out on him. But he kept trying to go as for as long as he could until one of his knees bucked on him and he skidded across the pavement, gritting his teeth as his skin was being rubbed by the rough concrete. At some point his dad began chasing him on foot, he wasn't really sure when.

He was met with a swift kick to his stomach, "I told everyone you died!" He yelled. Gerard gasped in pain, then curled up. "You're supposed to be dead!" He got down onto one knee and punched him in the face. Gerard tried his best to fight back, but for a drunk guy, he was surprisingly strong. The running had already worn him out. He managed to kick his dad off of him, making him fall onto his ass and he got up, but his dad grabbed him by his ankle and he felt right onto his face, and he could feel a warmth leaking out of his nose and mouth. He pushed himself up and his father kicked his head back into the cement. He felt slightly dizzy when he tried to get back up and his boot came flying into his back, he swore he heard something crunch and let out a wheezing breath, "S-sto–" A boot came right to his right jaw, and his dad grabbed him by the hair and slammed his face into the pavement multiple times. Gerard could feel himself phasing in and out of consciousness.

"Hey what the fuck is going on over there?" Was the last thing he heard.

\--

Frank had no idea when he fell asleep. He woke up around 12 AM. He's surprised Gerard didn't wake him up. "Gee?" He called. He got no answer. He pushed himself off the couch and looked around the apartment. "Gerard?" He checked the bedroom, still not seeing him there, worry was immediately filling up inside of him. "C'mon babe, this isn't funny."

He searched the house up and down until he finally came to the conclusion that he just wasn't here. He took a few deep breaths. "Calm down, he's probably just out with Brendon and them," he told himself. He pulled out his phone, deciding that they needed to get Gerard a phone of his own very soon.

"Hello..?" Brendon mumbled from the other line, his voice croaky, sounding like he just woke up. Frank began trembling slightly, because that must've meant he wasn't there.

"Um, Br-Brends h-have you s-seen G-Gee?"

Brendon paused for a short moment, "No, why?" He asked sounding much more awake. "Hold on, one second." There was some rustling on the phone. "Dallon, babe," he said softly. There was some inaudible speaking. "Did you see Gerard at work today?"

"Hm? Yeah, right before I left, he was closing up. Why, what's wrong?"

"He's not at home right now," Brendon said. "Yeah, Frank, Dallon saw him before he left out of work."

"Oh no.." he let out a shaky sigh, pacing around the living room. "I'll.. I'll c-call Pete r-real q-quick to s-see if he might've.. y-y'know, m-might've w-went th-there."

"Yeah okay, call me back immediately," he said sternly.

Frank nodded and let him know that he would then ended the call. He frantically pulled up Pete's number and called it. When he answered he sounded like he was tired as well. He also hasn't seen Gerard. "O-Okay, th-thanks."

"Yeah no problem, but why? Is he not home?"

"Y-yeah, he was s-supposed to b-be h-home f-four hours a-ago."

"Shit, did you ask Brendon about it?" He asked.

Frank nodded, running his trembling hand through his hair. "I-I have t-to l-look for h-him," he said.

"Call Brendon and tell him to get you a ride okay, I'm gonna text him to pick me up," Pete instructed, there was a lot of rustling on the other end of the line.

"Y-yeah," Frank nodded, then hung up. He rung up Brendon almost immediately.

"Yeah, Pete texted me, I'm coming over right now, Dallon is coming with us," He said. He heard an engine turning on. "I'll see you in five, hang in there buddy."

"Okay.. okay," he said, taking a really deep breath as an attempt to calm himself down. It wasn't working. Brendon hung up and Frank put on his shoes and went outside to wait for them to pull up.

It wasn't too long before Brendon was honking his horn and someone yelling out the window to shut the hell up. Frank immediately ran to the car, nobody bothering to greet each other, they just got straight to business. "One of you guys call 911," Brendon ordered. "Does Gee have a phone?"

Frank shook his head, while holding his phone to his ear. "N-no," he responded. "H-hello?!" He said when they finally picked up.

"Hello, what's your emergency?" The operator asked.

"M-my b-boyfriend went m-missing, he was s-supposed to be home h-hours ago."

The operator asked him a series of questions about the last place Gerard had been and she said they were sending out a search party.

They were still driving around, Frank answering questions of the operator about his appearance, what he was wearing, age and height. "S-sir? I believe someone came in with same appearance you described of your boyfriend. There's a name tag on him that says Jared? Spelled G-E-R-A-R-D, he's currently on his way to Clara Maass Medical Center."

"Gerard," he corrected quickly, "Th-that's him! Brendon! He-He's in the h-hospital!"

"What? Why?!"

"The fuck.." Pete cursed.

"I.. I don't know.." Frank sighed, his voice cracking slightly. He was so worried and he really hoped Gerard was okay. "Cl-Clara Maass Medical Center," he said.

"Where's that?"

"Turn around and it's pretty much a straight shot down the road from here," Dallon explained.

Brendon nodded and immediately did a U-turn and they were on their way to the hospital.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

Frank immediately rushed into the hospital asking if he could see Gerard. She told him the room number and he practically sprinted to the elevator. Brendon, Dallon, and Pete weren't too far behind him. They tried to tell him to stop running so he wouldn't get in trouble.

Frank pushed the button to open the elevator. When that didn't come quick enough for his liking, he resorted to the stairs. It wasn't too long before he was in Gerard's room. He felt his heart break at the sight of his baby. His face was all scraped up with a thick bandage around his forehead. His uppercut was split open and swollen. Soon his friends entered the room taking in the sight in front of them as well. "Shit.." Pete sighed. "Who the fuck did that to him..?"

Frank walked up to Gerard sighing softly and kissed his cheeks. He couldn't help the tears that fell out of his eyes. "I love you," he murmured against his ear. At some point two people came into the room, one with big curly hair and a dark skin tone, he assumed she was pregnant. The other's hair was light brown with a slight wave, and she had an oliver skin tone. "Hi, I'm Emma," the light brown haired one, Emma greeted. "And this is the woman that found him."

"Oh God, thank you so much," he sighed, walking up to her. "Can I.. Can I hug you?" He asked.

She laughed and nodded, "Yeah, but watch the baby."

Frank nodded and gave her a hug, being sure to be wary of her belly. She wrapped her arms around him, rubbing his back soothingly. "Thank you so much," he said again. "I was so worried." She nodded and let him know it was okay. "I hope we aren't keeping you here," he said apologetically.

"No, they kept me here got questioning. Unfortunately I don't know much about the guy other than him having grayish brown hair, so hopefully your uh, friend?" She said uncertainly, "Remembers when he wakes up, but now I'm waiting for my girlfriend. I ended up missing my bus," she chuckled.

Frank nodded, wiping the tears out of his eyes, "Thank you so much.. I honestly can't thank you enough.." He mumbled. "Who knows what would've happened if you weren't there.."

She waved at him dismissively with a smile. "Well I better get going," she said looking at her phone. Frank nodded again and waved her off, smiling slightly. Then he looked to the nurse.

"E-Emma?" He asked. She hummed a response as she was checking on Gerard. "How is he?" Brendon, Dallon, and Pete were just staring at him looking just as confused as Frank felt.

"He's going to be fine," she said reassuringly. "He has a concussion, 7 stitches in his forehead, and a bruised rib," she explained. "And thats just for the more serious stuff, a few more other minor cuts and bruises as well."

"When will he be awake?"

"I don't know," she said. Frank felt his stomach lurch as negative thoughts began to crowd his mind. "Don't worry though, he's not in a coma or anything. The doctors suspect that he might've went from being knocked out then straight to sleep," she chuckled. "Poor guy.. must've had a long day."

Frank nodded, letting out a relieved laugh. "Yeah.. he had work and stuff."

Emma hummed, "But don't worry so much, he's gonna be fine. He's in good hands. He's gonna be okay, but he's gonna be in pain.

"Okay," he sighed. He finally took a seat next to his friends who were quietly chatting amongst one another. "Thanks you guys," he said.

"No problem, I just wonder who could've did this to him," Dallon said. "And why. He's too nice to get anyone to hate him."

Frank nodded in agreement, wondering who as well. He couldn't think of anyone. Unless it was someone he knew when he was homeless. He doubted Gerard even did anything bad then either. "But hey, Frank, we should probably get going..." Brendon said sadly. "We all have work in the morning and it's getting really late," he sighed, checking the time. It was already going on to 2 AM.

Frank nodded understandingly. "Oh no—it's fine. Thank you guys for helping me find him.. it means a lot."

"No problem, Frankie," he responded.

"Let me know when he wakes up," Pete said, getting up along with everyone else. He patted Frank's back, and frank nodded.

"I'll let the boss know that Gerard won't be able to make it in for a little while," Dallon said, giving his sleeping body a sad glance. He didn't deserve this at all.. Frank nodded and gave them all one last thank you and they were all out the door.

He sighed, going up to Gerard sitting on the side of his bed. Who could've did this? He wondered. He gently ran his knuckles across his cheek, leaning down to kiss him. "I love you so much," he sighed. He gently ran a hand through his bright red hair.

He ended up fitting himself on the bed next to Gerard wrapping an arm across his torso. He didn't mind it being uncomfortable with the hospital bed only being made for one. He just wanted to be close to Gerard.

Gerard stirred in his sleep slightly, only to scoot over some, and turned to his side. He grunted in pain. Frank watched him worriedly, but got into a better position on the bed. Gerard did drape an arm over him, sighing in his sleep. Frank pressed a kiss to his lips, he did feel Gerard kiss back almost immediately. He pulled back, "Y-you're awake!" He almost pressed the button to alarm the nurse.

"No," Gerard mumbled, grabbing his hand and intertwining his fingers with Frank's. "Not right now.. wait until the morning. I just wanna lie here with you." Gerard pulled his boyfriend in closely. "Ugh everything hurts.." He whined.

"Who did it?"

Gerard didn't say anything for a while. "Can we just save it until later in the day? I really don't feel like talking about it right now.."

"Bu-"

"Frankie, please," he pleaded. "I love you but I really don't want to talk about it right now."

Frank let out a defeated sigh, "Okay.."

"Go to sleep baby, you must be tired," Gerard cooed, gently kissing his forehead.

"I love you," Frank mumbled, closing his eyes.

"I love you, too," he kissed Frank's lips one more time before letting his sleep. He stayed awake, with Frank in his arm staring at him adoringly. His peacefully face kept his mind off of the events that occurred today. He didn't want to think about it. The thought of his father scared him, it was almost traumatizing. Apparently to everyone he knows... He's dead. He sighed, pressing a kiss to his boyfriends forehead as he slept, not being able to imagine how much stress he must've been feeling. He loved him so much.

Gerard smoothed his hair back, hoping he wasn't disturbing his sleep too much. He eventually pulled Frank even closer to him, not paying any mind to the slight pain it caused him. He could feel Frank's breath on his neck. Gerard gently rubbed his back. He felt slightly paranoid that his father would try to get them again.. but at the same time he also felt at ease that he was in a facility with high security and constantly on surveillance. He was just scared of leaving. What if his dad tries to look find him? What if he wasn't so lucky to make it out alive that time? He hoped that his dad would be arrested before then.

It wasn't long before daylight was creeping in. Gerard was beginning to get tired again, but he wanted to see Frank when he woke up. As the morning light got brighter the more his head began to hurt. Eventually it got to the point where it was hard to open his eyes or move them at all. Or move anything that involved his head besides his mouth.

A few hours later, a woman with light brown hair came into the room. "Oh good morning, Mr. Way, how are you feeling?"

"My head hurts.." he grumbled.

She nodded with a smile, handing him two pills, with a cup of water. "Here's some painkillers, they should kick in in about 15 to 30 minutes," she said. "Are you hungry?"

Gerard slowly shook, "Maybe later.. Thank you."

She smiled, waving him off like it was no big deal, "I'll be back in a little while."

He nodded, and she walked out of the room. A little while after she left, Frank was scooting away from Gerard. "Ah, careful baby, you'll fall," he said tightening his grip around Frank.

Frank smiled at Gerard, pulling himself back onto the bed fully. He kissed Gerard on the lips, giving him a long one since he never got the chance last night. Gerard sighed, missing the feeling of Frank's lips on his own. It hasn't even been close to a full day that they were apart but to them it felt like a hellish age. "I'm so glad you're okay," he mumbled, their lips pulling apart with a small smack that sounded loud in the quiet room.

"Me too," he mumbled, and it wasn't too long before there were two police officers walking into the room.

"Hi, Mr. Way, sorry to bug you so soon, but we have a few questions," one of them said.

Gerard gently tapped on Frank as if asking him to move over some so he could get up. He sat up, nodding then cringed at the pain he felt in his head. He clutched the side of his face, with his eyes squeezed shut. "Fuck," he mumbled. Frank leaned on him, with his eyes low. He was still extremely tired, but couldn't sleep because it was so bright in the room. He tried to keep his eyes open to he could hear exactly what happened and who did it.

Gerard told them everything, that it was his dad who did it because he already told everyone he was dead. So he tried to kill him. He wasn't sure if he lived where he did when he lived with him, but that was the only address he could provide. He told them what kind of car he had, it looked just like the one he has when he was still there but again, he couldn't provide them with all the information of the car. He only know what kind of car it was. "Well, your father hoax won't be on for too long because you're on the news now," the police officer said.

Gerard nodded, looking over to Frank who was asleep again. He'd probably have to explain everything that happened to him again later. As much as he didn't want to talk about it, he didn't want to leave Frank in the dark either. He thought his boyfriend deserved some sleep, it was only 7 AM and he probably was asleep at 3 or going on 4. He gently pushed Frank down onto the pillow and laid down besides him after the police officers left. He ended up falling asleep again not too long after Frank.

\--

Gerard woke up again to his nurse gently tapping his shoulder with an uncertain look on her face. "You have some visitors," she said.

Gerard nodded, "Who are they?"

"W-well, they wanted it to be a surprise, but.."

"Bring them in," Gerard said, looking over to Frank who was still sound asleep, not wanting to bother him.

She nodded, and it wasn't too long before a little boy and a woman came in. Gerard gasped and covered his mouth when he seen them. "M-mom?" He asked. She didn't change at all, well maybe she looked happier, but also slightly saddened as well. "Mikey?"

She smiled, kindly walking up to Gerard and pulled him into a hug, making sure to be careful. "I'm so happy to see you. I'm so so sorry." Gerard didn't hug back because he was too in shock. Mikey seemed to have the same expression on.

"M-mom..." He choked out, clutching onto her tightly.

His mother looked behind herself, nodding to Mikey to come over and stop being shy. "He remembers you.. he's just really shy. He was really excited to see you again. He hasn't stopped bugging me about you since everything happened," she said sadly, her eyes sometimes flickering to the sleeping body on the bed.

"Oh my god.." he breathed. "Mikey.. he grew up so much." Gerard got up, he could see tears welling up in his baby brother's eyes.

It wasn't long before he cracked, running up to Gerard, "Gee!" He cried out, Gerard kneeled, and Mikey wrapped his bony arms around his neck. Gerard pressed a kiss to the side of his baby brother's head, hugging him back tightly. Mikey was sobbing, stammering out how much he missed him. Tears began to slip out of Gerard's eyes too as he rubbed Miley's back comfortingly.

"I'm so glad he remembers me," he said, smiling up at his mother. She smiled back down at the two, glad to see them together again.

"Me too," she smiled, gently patting Gerard's hair. "Um, who's that..? If you don't mind me asking," she wondered looking over to Frank.

"O-oh," Mikey finally let go of him, also wondering who that was. "He's my boyfriend.. and honestly, he's done so much for me.."

She smiled at her son, rubbing his back, "I'm glad you found someone who makes you happy."

"I'm so grateful for him.. when I was homeless, he was the one who took me in," he said, gazing down at Frank lovingly. He seen the small smile on his mother's face. "I should probably wake him up," he said, walking over to him, crouching down and gently shaking his shoulder. "Babe," he coped gently. "I have some people I want you to meet." Frank peeled his eyes open, coming face to face with Gerard's, staring at him confusedly. He must still be really tired. "I need you to wake up baby," he said. He grabbed Frank's hand and kissed it gently, and Frank just laid his head back on his pillow. He looked up to his mom apologetically . She was looking her her son with a smile that only showed pride, she waved him off dismissively as if telling him to take his time, and decided to stop watching him and talk to Mikey instead. They walked over to the seat on the side of the room and sat down.

"Come on, Frankie, wake up," he cooed. He groaned, and opened his eyes again. "There's some people I really want you to meet." Frank finally started forcing himself up, sighing a bit. Gerard smiled at him, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. He grabbed Frank's hand and walked him to the other side of the bed, seeming a bit startled to see two other strangers in the room.

"Uh, h-hi?" Frank noticed that the little boy looked strikingly similar to Gerard. He knew Gee had a little brother, but was that him?

"This is Mikey, and my mother, Donna," he grinned, not being able to hide the excitement in his voice.

Frank couldn't help but grin too, "Oh, hi!" He said. He held a hand out to Gerard's mother, "I'm Frank."

Mikey was looking at Frank with a nervous expression. Frank smiled down at him, and crouched down slightly. He held his hand out for him to shake. "Hey, little guy, I'm Frank."

"H-hi.." Mikey mumbled, hesitantly grabbing his hand in a gentle shake. "Your hands are cool. Mom, always yells at me for drawing on my hands."

Frank shifted his eyes to Donna, who was catching up with Gerard. "Well, don't tell your mom I told you this, but when you're older, you're gonna be allowed to draw on your hands all you want—and it can't be permanent."

Mikey's eyes glimmered excitedly. "I can't wait!" Frank grinned and ruffled his hair. Mikey giggled, "How did you and Gee meet?"

Frank grimaced slightly, and sat down, criss-crossed in front of Mikey. "Well.. He didn't have a home at a point," he explained. "He was really skinny, and I gave him free food once and bought a picture that he drew off him.. Then, one day.. I didn't seem him for a few  
weeks," he said, running a hand through his hair. He remembered how stressed he was when he couldn't find him. He was so worried and he barely knew him at the time. "But I did end up finding him," He smiled, feeling thankful for the guy who was now his beautiful boyfriend. "He was extremely sick.. So I took him in and tried my best to bring him back to health and now.. He's alive and well."

Mikey smiled, a smile that looked grateful. "I never believed he was dead," he said.

"That's good," Frank smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "He missed you a lot.. Right before we go to bed, he talks about you sometimes. He was hoping you'd remember him, I can tell he's so happy to finally see you."

"I hate what happened to him, but.. If he wasn't in the news, we would've probably never seen him again," he said. "Well that what mom said, did you guys ever find out who did it?"

"N-no.. I fell asleep when they were questioning him.. We'll have to see later, but let's just let him catch up with his mom later, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of you both from now on," he grinned.

Mikey smiled back, deciding he liked Frank. "I hope so."


	22. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! I hope you all enjoy. <3

Three years later, everything was going great. Gerard's father was in jail for attempted murder, his little brother and him were almost attached at the hip for a little while until Mikey developed a crush on a girl in his grade named Kristen. She was a very nice girl, and it took a while before Gerard got him to admit that he liked her. Mikey swore to never tell him anything again after Gerard freaked out about it, saying little Mikey Way wasn't so little anymore and ruffled his hair.

Kristen also happened to be friend's with a particular young lady who helped Gerard out almost four years ago. She changed quite a bit in terms of her style, but her features were all still the same. She didn't really recognize Gerard, but she did remember him once he awkwardly told him and squealed happily and took a picture with him. She wanted to promote the Random Acts of Kindness club in her high school. She was one year older than both Kristen and Mikey. But she was pretty short for her age when he was given the fifty dollars.

And with Frank and Gerard, they couldn't be happier. Gerard had his family back, and the best boyfriend he could ever ask for. A boyfriend that stuck with him through everything rather than running off like the others. He got Frank the puppy like he promised and she was a year old now. Frank named her after Bela, Frank's parents dog who passed away from old age a few months ago. Gerard got to meet her once but the next time was when they got news of her death. Frank was extremely sad because he grew up with that dog and he loved her to death. She was extremely energetic from the day she was born to the day she died, and Frank was pretty devastated, but it didn't take him long before he wasn't so sad anymore.

Bela looked a lot like the late Bela. She was also a boxer breed, he said she reminded him a lot of her. Really energetic, Sweet Pea and her got on well. Sweet Pea seemed to think she was a great bed, but Bela didn't mind, as long as they didn't fight.

Gerard also managed to get himself a job pretty much as an errands boy for a cartoon company, but it paid well and he also got showed the ropes of a cartoon industry. But it was extremely tiring sometimes too, especially when people were late on a deadline, then it's hectic. He's sometimes forced to stay late and help with things he isn't qualified to do, but whatever.

Today was one of those hectic days, the big bosses calling wondering what the hell was going on with the delay and Gerard not having any real excuses besides, We'll have it to you shortly, sir. And he couldn't wait to be back home with his boyfriend, he had to get a few things before went back home. Dog food, puppy pads, and the last bits to their third year anniversary present. He hadn't mentioned anything about their anniversary at all and he could tell that Frank looked a little sad because he woke up in a really good mood, and was really lovey-dovey with Gerard all the way until the moment that he left, probably hoping for an Happy Anniversary. He felt bad, but he knew it would be well worth it in the end.

Once his day was finally over he sent Frank a text that said, Hey baby, I need you to check the mail. He brought Frank a customized guitar pick with a picture of the two of them on it kissing. Pete was recording a video of them last Christmas at Frank's parents party and managed to get the perfect shot of them under a mistletoe. He sent the video to Gerard and Frank and Gerard immediately screenshot it. Before he left for work, he also put a little car he made for him in the mail.

He walked to a flower store that was kind of near by, and bought an over-sized bouquet of flowers, most of them being red, pink, maroon, and white. He felt his phone vibrate a couple of times in his pocket and he smiled a bit to himself. "Who's the lucky lady?" The cashier asked as she rung him up.

"My boyfriend," he responded, chuckling slightly.

"O-oh, sorry," she said, blushing slightly. "What's the occasion?"

"Our third year anniversary."

She nodded, smiling a bit, "Congratulations, your total is one hundred and three dollars and ninety five cents."

He pulled his wallet out and grabbed a credit card and passed it to her, then she check him out. "Thank you!" He smiled, leaving the flower shop.

He made a stop to another store to buy them champagne and a cake. Unfortunately they didn't have any heart shaped cakes because valentines wasn't coming yet. Well, not soon enough for them to start putting up valentines cake.

Now, he was on his way home. He gave a couple of homeless people money on his way, feeling empathy for them. He knew what they are going through. He was fortunate enough to meet an amazing man that happened to be his boyfriend of four years now.

Ever since Gerard got himself a better paying job, he tries to donate what he can afford to charities. He tries to be generous with his donations to the homeless but there's only so much he can give to so many people. And even four year into their relationship, Gerard never failed to miss a gift for Frank during a paycheck. Even if it's something as simple as a treat that he know he likes, and maybe something for their dogs. Frank seems to take it as a personal gift to himself as well.

Once he was finally home, he knocked on the door. He still had his key and all, but his hands were full, and he couldn't be bothered to put his bags down again. As soon as Frank opened the door—still dressed in his pajamas—he grinned and pulled Gerard into a hug. Gerard shifted his body slightly so he wouldn't crush the flowers. He laughed a bit, "Happy Anniversary, baby."

"I almost thought you forgot!" He exclaimed, gently slapping Gerard's chest. "But then I seen the mail and I was so happy."

"I would never forget," Gerard said, smiling down at Bela and Sweet Pea as they ran up to him excitedly wagging their tails. Bela was getting so big, so much bigger than Sweet Pea. "Okay, but watch out, it's fucking freezing and I need to bring your stuff inside," he chuckled.

Frank nodded following Gerard into the kitchen. He put the flowers down onto the table along with the bag. "I have some stuff for you too," Frank grinned.

Gerard rolled his eyes, "You know I don't like you getting me things.."

"N-no, I promise, you'll like it," he smiled. "But after dinner, I'll give you it."

"Aw, you made dinner too?" Gerard smiled, knowing Frank has been trying to cook more often. "Oh–Speaking of which, I haven't gave you a proper kiss yet."

Frank hummed in agreement, walking closer to Gerard, draping his arms across his shoulders. Gerard placed a hand on his lower back, pulling him in and kissed him deeply.

Gerard pulled his lips away from Frank's mouth and just gave him a hug afterwards, slowly swaying his body with the other man. "I love you so much," he murmured.

"I love you too," he said softly, with his head rested again his shoulder. "I love you so so much."

They stood there for a while, talking softly amongst each other. They told each other how grateful they were for the other. Gerard kept telling Frank he was the best thing that ever happened to him, and how without him he probably still wouldn't he here today. He said that Frank had no fucking idea how much he meant to him. He was his everything, and that he felt that nothing in the world could repay him for what he's done for him.

At some point, Frank began sniffling lightly, hugging Gerard tightly, nuzzling his face against his shoulder. Gerard kept quietly speaking to Frank about how much he loved and told him he'd do anything for him even if it killed him.

"G-God, I love you s-so much," he managed, through tears and a tight throat.

Gerard sighed happily, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend's forehead. "I love you too, baby." He pulled Frank away slightly, with his hands rested on his hips, pecking him one more time. He wiped Frank's tears away, Frank let his eyes flutter shut to the feeling of Gerard's soft thumbs on his cheeks. He pressed a kiss to Frank's forehead, knowing he would blush from that.

"Okay.. Dinner," Frank said, even though he wanted to stay like this with Gerard forever.

\--

Once they got to dinner their conversation was much more lighthearted, playfully, and flirty. They were both having a great time in one another's company much like they always did. Today however, the emotions just felt a bit stronger. Maybe even more so than their past anniversaries. This was the first anniversary they had in. The usually went out to diners, movies, and hotels. They'd bring Bela and Sweet Pea to Gerard's mom's house–Mikey loved them, and so did Kristen. Kristen would always be there when the dogs were.

"Hey, Gee.." Frank said cautiously now that they both finished eating.

"Hm?" He hummed, wiping his face off with a napkin.

"W-wait, let me grab something from the room!" He said getting up and rushing to their bed room, Bela and Sweet Pea following after him, seeming alarmed.

"Uh.. okay," He said with a confused smiled.

Frank came out a few moments later, holding something behind his back with a nervous smile. He walked closer to Gerard, feeling like he was trembling. He took a deep breathe and down on one knee.

Gerard could feel his heart beating nervously and excitedly in his chest. This couldn't be happening, this could not be happening. Frank didn't say anything for awhile, just looking down at his knee, trying to summon the courage he had earlier.

"G-Gerard Ar-Arthur Way.." He started, not sounding nearly as confident as he wanted to. He swallowed the lump in his throat and continued, finally looking up at Gerard. "I.. I had everything I wanted to say planned out earlier. B-But now that I'm.. now that I'm actually in front of you.. I'm speechless. B-But if you say yes.. I'll have all the time in the world to tell you how much I love you like I want to right now." Frank finally pulled the ring box that he had been hiding behind him, knowing that the question pretty much asked itself, but he asked it anyways. "Will you marry me?"

Gerard nodded slowly and it wasn't long before he was on the floor with Frank smashing his lips against his own. Frank eventually pulled away from him to slide the ring onto his finger, so glad that it was a perfect fit. He grinned widely and pulled Gerard into a hug. "Happy Anniversary, baby. I love you so fucking much."

"I love you too.. so so much."


	23. Extra!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This IS over, I just had a funny idea for it and here it is!

A month and some after Frank proposed—They had told no one. Gerard wanted to flaunt around his ring until someone noticed. It was over a month full of ridiculously hilarious and over exaggerated hand gesticulations. But still, no one really noticed. Gerard was still determined for everyone to see without being told. 

Frank suggested just telling them, like regular people. But Gerard shut it down with a firm no. Absolutely not, he said. 

Frank shrugged with a small smile at his fiancé's stubbornness. "Okay..." he trailed off as the two of them were getting ready for bed. Bela and Sweet Pea were in the house trotting around somewhere. Probably up to no good. The couple couldn't be bothered to find out. It was a long day for both of them. Frank was job hunting. He still worked at Quick Chek but that wasn't giving him the amount if money he wanted anymore. He wanted to strive for something higher and didn't want his career to be a employee at Quick Chek for the rest of his life. He did get an interview for the following week Monday as a receptionist for a massage clinic. The starting pay was a solid 15 dollars an hour and that was so much more than Quick Chek. Quick Chek payed around 17 dollars an hour—after he worked up to it. It started at minimum wage but he was still living with his parents when he started working there. But 17 dollars an hour was just enough for him to survive with some extra in a low income apartment in a not so nice part of town but no one bothered him and he bothered no one so it was fine. But the two did want to get out of there eventually—they needed to. Partially because the two of them got paid too much together to live there anymore and they wanted to find a spot that would give Bela and Sweet Pea more space to breathe and maybe have a backyard they could play in. Whenever the snow stopped of course. 

Frank renewed his lease recently and that's when he was informed of everything. They were generously giving them two months to get out of there. Frank was lucky since the job Gerard had was high paying and he could partially do it at home as well. He also still sold art on the side and he was trying to do it more frequently so they could get a home. 

"They'll notice eventually," Gerard said, he took off his reading glasses that he got from a store a week after they got engaged. He wanted them so he could feel as though they were a real married couple because in TV shows the married couples always had one of the people with glasses on before they went to bed. And if it's not gonna be you, I'll do it we're Gerard's exact words. Frank still laughs at him about it. The man had near perfect vision and all the reading glasses did was make him look bug-eyed. 

"God, you're so stupid. I love you," Frank chuckled and gave him a small kiss on the lips. 

Once Frank pulled away, Gerard put his glasses back on. "Do I look smart enough for you now?" He asked, his eyes now magnified and Frank started to cackle and shook his head. "They don't make me look sophisticated?" He asked and picked up a book he had lying on the dresser. "How about now?" He asked and opened to a random page of the book and looked as though he were genuinely reading and Frank was sure he wasn't. 

"Like—Like when I don't see your actual eyes, okay. Maybe a little sophisticated. But when I see your eyes—"

Gerard whipped his head into Frank's direction and widened his eyes. He stared directly into Frank's eyes. "What's wrong with my eyes?!" He asked like he was genuinely offended. 

Frank began laughing once again. "Take the fucking glasses off, Gee!" He grabbed them and put them into the drawer on his side of the bed. Gerard leaned back with a sigh. 

"You're no fun..." he sighed and pouted. 

"You're just saying that," Frank smirked and crawled on top of Gerard. 

"Am I?" He asked, not being able to stop himself from grab onto his fiancé's hips and bring him closer. "Are you sure about that?" 

He pushed Gerard's now orange-y pink colored hair with brown roots behind his ears. He kept up with the red for a few years but decided he was going to call a quits and go black for the wedding. Gerard hummed, not really giving Frank a yes or a no. But nonetheless, Frank proceeded to press his lips on Gerard's. It started off slow and steady, Frank's arms draping off the shoulders of Gerard's as their lips moved together smoothly. "I can show you how much fun I am, baby," Frank said grinning mischievously. He kissed Gerard hard and let his bottom lip slip through his teeth. 

Gerard let out a small breath of surprise. "Do your worst," he responded lowly. He got up and pushed Frank on his back. He was already shirtless so that was half a job done. But Frank was quick to work on his clothes. "Not this time, honey. I'm gonna need you naked and on your hands and knees," Frank ordered before he got up after pulling Gerard's shirt off. 

"Okay," Gerard responded with a bit of a surprised tone. Gerard got completely naked and like Frank said, got into his hands and knees. Gerard looked back. 

"Eyes forward," Frank said, holding back his laugh that was close to coming out. Gerard did as he was told. 

Frank took a moment to compose himself before kneeing his way over to Gerard and put on hand on his side. The other hand, however, he took to his tongue and licked his palm. He raised his hand and let it smack his fiancé's ass with incredible force. Gerard yelped loudly, his entire body tensing before he flipped himself back over to properly sit down despite the fact that his ass was stinging. 

He gave Frank a look of disbelieve. Frank was covering his mouth and his shoulders were shaking with laughter. "What the fuck, Frank?" Gerard still couldn't help smile that broke out on his face. He wanted to be angry, but it was hard to be truly mad at Frank.

Frank just shrugged, still grinning. "What kind of fun would I be if I gave you exactly what you were expecting?" 

Gerard just rolled his eyes, "So no sex then?" 

Frank shook his head and crossed his arms, "Nope!" He popped the 'p'. "Not tonight Mr. Iero-Way. Going celibate until the wedding," he joked. 

Gerard genuinely looked like he was considering something. "Hm, I think we should try that," he said. He sat down indian style and pulled a blanket over him.

He was getting cold. Frank blinked and furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait—Really?"

"I think it would be an incredible experience!" Gerard responded nodding frantically. "Especially when we finally get to have sex on our wedding night, it'll be so much more intense." Frank swears he was only joking. He could tell that Gerard saw it in his face. "Sorry, Mr. Celibacy. It was your idea. You missed your chance tonight with your little stunt. We're doing it," he said nodding to himself. "If it makes you feel any better, we aren't allowed to provoke each other in any way." 

"Looking at you provokes me, Gee," Frank said half jokingly with a pleading tone in his voice. 

Gerard rolled his eyes and laughed nonetheless. "Come on, I believe we can do it. I think it'll be an awesome experience." He grabbed onto Frank hands and looked into his eyes.

Frank finally sighed and smiled, "Okay, let's do it." Gerard grinned and pressed a kiss to Frank's lips. "Ah—That's provoking," he said and pulled away, grinning mischievously.

Gerard sucked his teeth, "Come here and kiss me, you stupid loser." 

"You're really good with your words," Frank responded and leaned into his boyfriend again. This was going to be a hard couple of months. But if Gerard wanted this, then who was he to say no.

Gerard chuckled after pulling away. "I was always told that I was very eloquent." 

"Riiight," Frank drawled, he crawled up to his bed and got under the blankets and Gerard did the same. 

Gerard hushed him, and snuggled up against him with his eyes closed. But he opened them up shortly after. "Take you clothes off, asshole." 

Frank scoffed, "Hey, what's with the insults?" 

"Got a bitter taste in my mouth remembering that you were the one who made me take mine off and now we're going celibate and your clothes are way too scratchy for pajamas and it's making me super uncomfortable," Gerard said, surprisingly all in one breath. Frank snorted when he heard his fiancé huff from the extremely long sentence. 

"Okay, point," he responded. He lifted his hips up to pull off his pants then sat up to take off his shirt. He threw them somewhere on the floor and got back under the blankets to wrap his arms around Gerard, feeling the heat of his body much better. "Happy now, princess?" 

Gerard hummed, "You don't have work tomorrow, right?" 

Frank shook his head, "Nope, why?"

"'Cause we're gonna hang out with everyone tomorrow. I swear they're gonna see my ring tomorrow. I have a good feeling about it," Gerard said with a small nod to himself.

Frank just smiled and shook his head. He pressed his lips to his fiancés and closed his eyes. "Okay, go to sleep so we can get it over with quicker. I wanna have one of my days off with you only. I love them, but I love you more." 

Gee tapped his cheek twice as if telling him he was a good sport and Frank scoffed. Gerard snickered and kissed him again, "Just kidding, I love you too. Unconditionally," he sung. "I will love you... Unconditionally. There is no—"

Frank closed his eyes with a fond smile, "Okay, now go to bed," he cut Gerard's song off. He gently stroked Gerard hair behind his ear. Gerard didn't respond then. 

Ever since Frank proposed, Gerard suddenly became the biggest goof-ball of joy. He was always smiling, always showing off the ring in whatever ways he could even though it went unnoticed a lot and he just looked silly. But all in all, it made Frank so happy that Gerard was so excited for this. 

Frank knew that with how much more lovey-dovey Gerard is, it would definitely make up for the lack of sex. But it wasn't like sex was everything to them. This celibacy thing was probably going to be like a breeze, just saying no sex out loud and both of them acknowledging that was always a shocker. They didn't even do it every week. It wasn't nothing that they ever really planned but it was more of a spur of the moment kind of thing. They're just going to have to avoid those  
moments now—or turn them into something else.

The morning came quick and Frank wasn't sure if he felt well rested or not. He probably felt off because he didn't wake up with Gerard next to him. He was usually the one out of bed first. He stretched and got up. He pulled on a pair of pajama pants and walked into the living room. 

Gerard was sat on the couch with Bella's head rested on his thigh and Sweet Pea laying down right next to him on the side Bella wasn't on. There was a spoon and an empty bowl on the coffee table and cartoons on the television. Gerard's hand was on top of Bela's head and Gerard looked as though he were asleep as well. 

Frank walked in further and discovered that Gerard was in fact asleep. Frank loved seeing this every morning. If Gerard didn't have work, he'd always migrate to the living room just to watch TV with him and their dogs. Frank walked behind the couch and pressed a gentle kiss on top of his fiancé's head and then went to the kitchen and turned on the light. He was shocked that there was no coffee. Ever since they got a coffeemaker, Gerard has been using it like it was going out of style. Frank took it upon himself to make a pot for himself—and Gerard of course, assuming he won't down it all by himself. But Gerard is better known for it, so maybe this could be pay back. He put in a filter and filled it with ground coffee, soon after that he could water prepared and poured it in and turned it on brew.

He got himself a mug—Gerard's favorite mug more specifically just to add more salt to the wound when he drinks up the entire pot of coffee. Frank smiled deviously to himself as he added some sugar to the cup to save himself the extra work after. He pushed himself up onto the counter to sit down as he waited for the coffee to brew and went on his phone. There wasn't much really going on in his phone besides a few text messages that he couldn't really be bothered to answer right now. 

He scrolled mindlessly through his phone and a few minutes later the coffee maker beeped. He picked up his mug and poured some of the dark, hot liquid into the cup. He was going to stay in the kitchen while he finished this thing off. He was determined to get back at Gerard for all of the mornings he was left coffee-less because his fiancé had no self control. 

He took the first cup in sips, not wanting to burn his tongue. If he took his time on that cup the rest of the pot would be less hot. Luckily, the pot probably held about 3-4 average sized mugs worth of coffee so it wasn't going to be very difficult. 

Eventually, Frank was proud to say that he finished it off, leaving nothing but maybe a fifth of a cup of coffee left in the pot just to let Gerard know he was there. He also left his mug in the sink. He would clean it later, they had a rule in place where they cleaned up whatever mess they made and if they noticed something like the garbage or laundry needed to be done, they'd do it. There wasn't any set chores in place for either of them, if they saw it they did it. Both of them slacked a bit on the laundry but everything else would always be taken care of. 

Frank laid on the couch and put his head on Gerard's thigh after moving Sweet Pea pea out of the way. She only went behind him and rested her snout in his neck. It seemed to be a sleepy day. Except for Frank, he was buzzing with all the coffee he drank. He was just watching whatever was on the television. His belly felt warm and if he hadn't had a caffeine-packed 'breakfast' he could've fallen asleep right there. 

One of his hands were rested on the top of Gerard's knee and underneath his chin. The other was just hanging over the couch. 

Finally, Frank felt Gerard's hand go in his hair. "Good morning, my dear," Gerard said, his voice hoarse with sleep. 

Frank looked up to him and twisted his body towards him. "Morning," he smiled. Gerard leaned down to give him a kiss.

"You smell like coffee," Gerard said a moment after. "Did you make some?"

Frank bit back a smile. "Maybe..."

"You are the greatest man alive," Gerard smiled. "Want to know what would make you greater?" Frank hummed in response. "If you'd be like our sweet Bela here, and get your head off of my lap." 

Frank huffed dramatically before he got up and Gerard did to and walked to the kitchen. Frank waited. He heard a small gasp, "Fraaaaannkkkk," Gerard whined and a moment later he was in the doorway with the mug from the sink in his hand. "You asshole! My mug too?" Frank smirked while Gerard shook his head and walked back into the kitchen.

"I love you," he sung. He smiled and held Bela when she crawled on him, finally waking up from her slumber and noticing he was now awake too. "Hi girl," he cooed, scratching her behind the ears. Sweet Pea huffed into his neck before nuzzling in further. 

"Yeah right," Gerard huffed. 

Frank laughed, "That's what you get for taking the coffee every fucking morning!" He called back. 

Gerard came out with a mug in his hand. "See! You were being an asshole! Only assholes drink coffee out of pure spite. I did it because I have a problem."

Frank cackled and shooed Bela off of him so he could get up. "So is everyone available so that we can try to show them that we are engaged?" He asked. "Again." 

Gerard hummed an affirmative. "We should probably get ready soon. We actually haven't decided on what to do. Should we stay in or go out?"

"Stay in so they can get out once we're done."

Gerard hummed thoughtfully, "Well the only thing to do here really is watch a movie..."

"Ooh... and that prevents you from being as flamboyant," Frank flicked his hands in a very camp way that could only be an imitation of his fiancé. He purposely exaggerated Gerard's motions as though they weren't enough on their own. 

Gerard laughed and rolled his eyes. "Did I kiss you this morning?" He asked.

Frank nodded. "Never opposed to another one. It's all I'm gonna be getting for a while."

Gerard chuckled before he pressed his lips to Frank again. "You're an asshole but I love you." He gave Frank another quick peck. 

"Love you too, baby," Frank said, running his hand down the side of Gerard's thigh. 

"Ah-ah, no provoking," Gerard scolded, he gently caressed his cheek and let his hand go down to his neck. Gerard's face was still extremely close to Frank's, their noses touching. Frank was staring into Gerard's eyes with his large green or hazel ones. He was trying for puppy eyes and Gerard kissed him one more time before pulling away completely. 

Frank chuckled. "I was testing your dedication," he responded.

"You already broke a rule, I'm dead set on this," Gerard said and leaned against him. "I practically turned my sex-drive off."

Frank laughed, "Hey, do me a favor?"

"Yeah? What's that?" Gerard asked, smirking. He was still clearly in a playful mood. 

"I need you to promise me that if they don't notice you'll just tell them," Frank responded, his voice was serious and Gerard was able to tell that. "I really want to have a weekend with just us again. I love them but, like I said, I love you more."

Gerard smiled sweetly and his fiancé. He couldn't say no. "I promise," he responded. He got close to Frank and kissed him deeply. 

Eventually, Frank pulled away. It was becoming too much too fast. "Okay now that was provoking," he scolded, pointing an accusing finger at Gerard. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Gerard said and gently ran a hand down Franks cheek. "I just love you so much and I wanted to show it," he pulled Frank into a hug.

Frank smiled happily against Gerard's chest and wrapped his arms around his back. "I love you too." They swayed gently in the middle of the kitchen. "Did you feed the dogs?" Frank asked.

Gerard hummed an affirmation. "They ate their food while I ate my cereal and then they asked me for my cereal," he said with a small laugh. "I said no of course. Y'know cocoa pebbles aren't exactly ideal for their..." Gerard squinted his eyes thoughtfully, "Kind." 

Frank laughed loudly, "Why the hell did you say kind like that?"

Gerard shrugged, smiling a bit. "Okay, lets get dressed." 

—

The couple finally stopped fooling around and managed to get some clothes on. Frank was sat with Sweet Pea in his lap and Gerard was on the floor on all fours making trouble to Bela. Sweet Pea opted for resting in Frank's lap because she loved her lazy days like anyone else.

Frank occasionally heard Bela bark in frustration or amusement—sometimes both. She couldn't catch whatever Gerard was hiding under his hand on the carpet. It was probably nothing, he just convinced her there was when he held his hand in a way that would normally mean he had treats inside. "You're too predictable, Bela," Gerard said giggling. Bela whined loudly and pounced for Gerard's hand again.

"Stop torturing the baby," Frank got up from the couch after putting Sweet Pea to the side of him on her second favorite place on the couch aside from his and Gerard's lap. He crawled onto his fiancé's back and wrapped his around him along with his legs. 

"Oh no, I've been ambushed," Gerard deadpanned. He grunted as he stood up.

"Damn right you were," Frank responded. He a few multiple quick kisses to Gerard's neck. 

"You just have an issue with provoking me, don't you?" He sounded strained because of Frank's weight on him. 

"Psh, no," Frank scoffed. He adjusted his position on Gerard's back. "It's my attack. Besides, I thought you turned your sex drive off." 

"Yeah, but it's like a light switch! If you flick it in the right direction it will be on," he responded with distress in his tone. 

Frank laughed into his neck and hugged against him, "God, I love you." 

Gerard hummed happily. "Love you too, now get off of me, you're not a fucking feather," Frank laughed again but did as Gerard said. When Gerard was free from him grip he stretched his back. "Now let's actually get ready, you're stalling."

"Me?!" Frank gasped and put a hand on his chest. "You were the one playing with Bela!"

"Sh..."

Frank rolled his eyes. "Okay let's get dressed. Shower?" 

"Later," Gerard responded. Frank nodded in agreement. They went into the bedroom to change their clothes.

—

"No provoking but here you art wearing this," Frank gestured at Gerard then folded his arms over his chest, pretending to be angry. "Just kidding. But if we weren't doing this celibacy—I'm just gonna stop myself right there," Frank sighed defeatedly. "Just know I would've defiled you," he finally said viciously. He decided that the word was weird enough that it'd be okay to use. 

Gerard laughed loudly. "We'd better start planning soon so it can happen." 

"I'm contemplating taking us to Vegas," Frank deadpanned. Gerard's eyes widened and he shook his head frantically and opened his mouth to speak. "I'm kidding, of course. I wouldn't cheat you out like that. I want this wedding to be proper and by, well us and our friends if they're willing to help."

Gerard nodded in agreement. "Yeah, by the way I texted everyone and Brendon is on his way—I managed to get Patrick to tag along."

"Not shocking with you, you have good persuasion skills. You managed to get him to come out every day of the week," Frank responded and walked out into the living room. "You're not guilting him in, are you?" 

"No, I just tell him that in a few weeks when you guys notice I'll let you have a stay in for a while," Gerard called back from the bedroom. "I noticed that making him curious works well. It's harmless. But I think he's beginning to think I have nothing to show and he's coming out purely because he's feeling more comfortable with doing so."

Frank hummed and nodded. He shortly heard knocking on the door. Frank opened it. "Hi guys," he greeted. They all responded to his greeting and let themselves in. 

"Is Gerard still being fucking weird?" Bob asked.

"Hey! There's a good reason, you guys are just really unobservant!" Gerard responded from the other room.

"That's his way of saying yes." 

Bob laughed and shook his head then propped himself on the couch. Gerard came out shortly. He took a moment to shake everyone's hand, making sure to keep his own back side up so his ring was on display. 

"What are we doing?" Brendon asked after stifling a sigh from practically this entire month of Gerard's strange behavior. It was more amusing than anything but it was frustrating that he—or any of them didn't know why. Frank shrugged and pulled out his phone. He made a group chat for all of them except Gerard to make this move along faster.

Frank: Just pay close attention to his hands. Don't fuckin say I gave you a hint.

Luckily, no one had their ringers on so it wasn't going to be suspicious if it all went off at the same time. However, Dallon, Patrick, and Pete checked their phone weirdly in sync, but Gerard didn't seem to notice. Realization seemed to only strike in Pete and his eyes immediately shot up towards Frank. He was about to say something when Frank covered his lips with his index finger, telling him to be quiet. But he gave the slightest nod. 

The grin Pete displayed only showed pure happiness for one of his best friends. Gerard was talking to Brendon, still gesticulating wildly. Brendon was just nodding along, not sure what it was that he was supposed to be observing. Maybe how weird a human could become in the span of a month? That couldn't be it. It was definitely something worth observing, though.

He pulled his phone out a few moments after it buzzed. He quickly looked at the message his eyebrows raised and his attention went back to Gerard and he payed close attention to his hands. It didn't click at first because he didn't know exactly what he was looking for. 

But in the moment Gerard's ring finger on his left hand glistening in just the right light. Brendon suddenly gasped when he seen the silver band on it and he grabbed Gerard's hand. That was when Gerard smiled pridefully. "No fucking way!" 

"I know!" Gerard responded grinning as wide as his face would let him. His voice was loud and excited and Frank couldn't help the loving smile that spread across his face. Every time Gerard expressed his excitement over their engagement, it filled his heart with joy. Everyone was looking at the two with confusion clear on their faces. 

"What happen?" Bob finally spoke up and asked.

"Fucking, Gerard and Frank are getting married!" Brendon exclaimed excitedly. He actually had tears in his eyes, he was so happy for them. 

Everyone reacted very positively for them. The two ended up getting enveloped in many hugs. Now everyone that cared for knew they were engaged except Frank's own parents. Gerard's mom and brother had a little party for them—It was really just the four of them and a cake with some music. 

Gerard's mom was already looking into wedding designers for them and not a day went by that Mikey didn't send him ideas for tuxedos. "When did this happen?" Brendon asked.

"For as long as you guys noticed Gerard acting extra strange—"

"Extra?!" Gerard scoffed.

"Honey..." Frank drawled. "Let's not get into this. Anyways, when Mister Weirdo here started acting stranger was essentially around the time I proposed," he said with a smile. "On our anniversary."

"Oh, that's smart. Don't have to worry about remembering another date," Patrick responded with an impressed nod.

Frank shrugged, "Gotta remember the wedding day. I'm not waiting for an entire year for that shit to come back again." Gerard snickered, walked to him, and kissed him on the cheek. Frank narrowed his eyes at his fiancé playfully. 

"It's your fault," he responded. 

"Um, what happened?" Bob asked. "Sounds like Frank lost a bet."

"He was playing too much and now he's suffering the consequences," Gerard responded he said with that wicked little grin of his. 

"By playing you mean...?" Pete wondered.

"I'm not getting anything below the belt until our wedding day," Frank sighed, he sat on the couch in between Bob and Dallon. Dallon must've had a rough week at work because he was practically knocked out on their couch. 

"My God, Gerard. That's harsh. What did he do to make you do that?" Pete asked, looking offended for Frank. 

Gerard shook his head, his smile now bashful, "Not going into detail." 

"Thanks," Bob responded monotonously. Gerard smiled and waved dismissively.

"Brendon, your boyfriend is dying on my sofa," Frank stated. 

"Let him die. I'll resurrect him before I leave." 

—

The group ended up not really doing anything at all. They left after Frank revealed that they've been hanging out with them so much because Gerard wanted them to notice (Frank didn't fail to put emphasis on that word) that they were engaged. Of course, they all pretended to be offended but Frank promised they'd hang out just to hang out eventually. But he was glad that it was all over and done with and now he could spend the days off the couple had together—which weren't always in sync—with just his fiancé. It's fun having the guys around but it gets exhausting.

"Finally," Frank sighed and fell on his belly onto the couch. He was laid uncomfortably on Gerard's lap, but whatever. "Last people to tell are my parents and we are going to actually tell them."

Gerard took the hand he rested in the middle of Frank's back away so he could put his hands up defensively, "Your family, your rules." 

Frank laughed and rolled over and scooted down a bit so his head was only on Gerard's lap. Gerard gently stroked his hair. Frank whistled and made a few kissy noises and soon they could hear the sound of Sweet Pea and Bela making their way back into the living room. "Family time," he grinned. Bela hopped on Frank and laid on him while Sweet Pea made herself comfortable near his neck. She licked him a few times causing him to cringe up and giggle. 

"You're so beautiful," Gerard said suddenly, staring down at Frank lovingly as he messed with his hair. Frank blushed and wasn't really sure how to respond. Gerard did compliment him a lot but the word beautiful was always something that left him speechless. Frank just looked down at Bela and scratched her behind the ears. She huffed appreciatively and closed her eyes. Gerard chuckled a bit, "I love you," he said in a tender voice.

"I love you too," Frank responded quietly, looking up at Gerard with a small smile. Gerard leaned down to kiss him softly.


End file.
